wfn.org | Philippine United Methodists urge halt to bombing in Mindanao

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Sept. 28, 2000  News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212)870-3803·New York
10-33-71B{439}

By Rebecca C. Asedillo*

Philippine United Methodist leaders are voicing opposition to the escalating
war in the southern island of Mindanao.

They also have called on the Philippine government and Muslim separatist
groups to return to the negotiating table and resume their dialogue.   

"As United Methodist Christians, our stand is to continue to reach out to
them (the Muslims) in dialogue, believing that this is the path to peace,"
declared the Coordinating Council of the Philippines Central Conference
during its meeting in mid-September. "As Christians, we oppose war. We
believe that this will only generate hatred and distrust between Muslims,
Christians and Lumads."

Lumads refers to the indigenous tribes who, with the Muslims, were among the
original inhabitants of Mindanao.  

The statement echoes the strong criticism earlier expressed by Catholic and
other Protestant leaders against the military offensive launched this month
against the Abu Sayyaf group. An extremist Muslim separatist group, the Abu
Sayyaf group is holding 17 hostages, including an American, three Malaysians
and 13 Filipinos. The group had previously released several foreign hostages
upon payment of ransom amounting to millions of dollars.

On Sept. 16, Philippine armed forces launched a massive assault on suspected
lairs of the group in Jolo, around 600 miles south of Manila. According to
news reports, as many as 50,000 people have fled their homes in Jolo, which
has a total population of 470,000. Reports of indiscriminate 
killings and summary executions of suspected Abu Sayyaf members have also
circulated, but could not be confirmed due to a tight military cordon around
the area.

Bishop Paul Locke Granadosin of the Davao Episcopal Area, which covers
Mindanao, reported that once-clearly designated battle lines have been
totally obliterated, while the field of engagement has widened to include
all nonmilitary targets, such as children and women.

"Buses are now bombed while still in terminals, others are stopped and
burned on the highways, civilian vehicles are searched or sprayed with
machinegun fire with passengers still aboard, while bombs are
surreptitiously concealed in public meeting places like markets and other
gathering places," he said. 

Granadosin also expressed his concern that the episcopal residence and
office are adjacent to a military camp and in close proximity to a rumored
new Abu Sayyaf headquarters.   

The Coordinating Council acknowledged in its statement that the critical
issue for the Muslims in Mindanao, otherwise known as "Moro people," is one
of self-determination.
 
The council pushed for an understanding of the "deep-seated roots of the
problem," and for a historically based response to it. "Historically, our
response to their political dissent has always been to suppress and crush
their movement; but historically, too, this response has always been proven
incapable of solving the crisis," the council stated.  

Mindanao, touted as the "land of promise," became the home of Christian
migrants from the northern islands of Luzon and the Visayas under a
government-sponsored resettlement program in the post-war era. Muslims with
ancestral roots to the land soon became a minority among the Christian
settlers, and were dominated by them politically and economically. Decades
of neglect and marginalization erupted in armed secessionist movements among
the Muslim population.  

The Coordinating Council also criticized the way big business has exploited
the resources of Mindanao while helping perpetuate the poverty of its
people.
 
But the council condemned what it viewed as the inhumanity and terrorist
acts of the Abu Sayyaf group. Finally, the council agreed to raise the
amount of one million pesos (approximately $22,000) as a disaster and relief
fund to respond to the needs of people affected by the war.  

Last May, the General Conference, United Methodism's highest legislative
body, passed a resolution supporting the cessation of hostilities in
Mindanao and encouraging humanitarian agencies to care for the victims of
the armed conflict.   

# # #

*Asedillo writes often for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries
Web site.

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United Methodist News Service
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