Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo is hoping that the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will resume peace talks this month and eventually sign a peace agreement within the term of President Benigno S. Aquino III.
Quevedo, whose jurisdiction was the center of previous firefights between Moro rebels and government troops, has issued five wishes for 2011. Such wishes are aired every now and then over Church-run Radio DXMS in Cotabato City.
“I am hoping that the GRP-MILF peace process would resume soonest and result in a lasting peace,” Quevedo, former president of the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said.
He said the resumption of peace talks would mean resolving the delicate issue of mediation, implementing the various recommendations from public consultations regarding the conduct of the peace process and negotiating sincerely and perseveringly with minds open to the just aspirations and the common welfare of the Bangsamoro as well as to the common good of the other peoples of Mindanao.
The Cotabato bishop said he also hopes that both sides will sit down as soon as possible and restart the peace process because the people, especially the internally displaced persons, have been very worried the talks have been dragging for so long.
As of the last week of December, the government was still awaiting the response from the MILF to hold exploratory talks. (PNA/PIA9-BST)
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