Iligan City – The Civil Society Groups in Iligan City and Lanao areas celebrate Iligan Week of Peace spearheaded by the Civil Society Organization Forum for Peace, Inc. (CSO-FP) in cooperation and partnership with Local Government Unit of this city and VSO Bahaginan as major stakeholders.
"This year's celebrated will be on March 25-31, 2011, bringing the theme, "Maghiusa sa Pagpanday sa Kalinaw diha sa matag Panimalay,Kumunidad ug Nasud", this means aims to unite the people and promote peace in every home, community and country", said Juanito Enriquez, Managing director of CSO-FP in a press conference.
He said this will also promote the balance of opportunities among the men and women and avoid social exclusion especially in the context of women empowerment for peace and development. He added that they will encourage to work together with active participation from the people in the community or at barangay level.
This event is celebrated annually by virtue of a Resolution No: 04-58 of the LGU of this city which was approved in March 2004 .This is to campaign for peace to elevate the awareness of the people in Iligan and the nearby places.
In a statement distributed to media, during the press conference CSO-FP disclosed that prior to the approval of the resolution, mostly of the conflict happened in the past were in the first and second quarter of the year. The all-out-war declared by Former President Joseph Estrada happened in January, 2000. The all-out-war policy of former President Gloria Arroyo happened in April, 2003 and this include the renewal of conflict in August 2008 due to the MOA-AD controversy. All these wars cause the damaged of lives and properties, especially the lives of innocent civilians.
The statement added that it was expected that strong biases among the people of diverse cultures in conflict areas heightened after every year. In order to neutralize the mental anguish of war and defuse polarization among the people, the peace celebration will open up and elevate the awareness of the people to re-establish the good relations and to work in unity for peace and development. As time goes on, IWoP celebration considered other issues o focus such as environment, good governance, gender , power an d energy, poverty and other social issues that are considered to be the potential causes of conflict.
The press conference were attended by the stakeholders by Juanito Enriquez, Jr, Managing director of CSO-FO, Abel Moya, Program Manager of Pakigdait, Inc, City Councilor Atty. Marlene Young, chairman on Civil Political Human Rights and Responsibilities, Arlieto Berlan of NGO and Anita Sescon ,Director Iligan Area Core Group of Mindanao Commission on Women.
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