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| City’s Interfaith Group Sets Peace-Building Priorities for 2010 in Maiden Assembly |
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| Thursday, 04 February 2010 09:20 |
  IMAMS in at least 10 barangays in Zamboanga City are now voluntarily issuing a certificate to attest that a Muslim child has undergone a name-giving “baptism” in their mosques, a practice resulting from a documentation project started by the Jabu-Jabu (The Calling) Inc. three years ago.This progress report was made by Jaafar Kimpa, president of the Muslim civil society group, during the first monthly meeting for the year of the Inter-Religious Solidarity Movement for Peace (IRSMP) held at the Solidarity Center of Peace Advocates Zamboanga (PAZ) last January 23. Kimpa’s group is a member of IRSMP. IRSMP member Abdurahim Kenoh in praising the project said that the “baptismal certificates” can temporarily take the place of a birth certificate or affidavit of birth that is required whenever a Muslim child would enroll in a public elementary school, especially those located in farflung areas. Kenoh, who is a retired division superintendent of the Department of Education, said that in his experience more than half of Muslim children enrolling for the first time in the city’s public schools cannot present a birth certificate because their birth was not registered in the any Civil Registrar’s Office. During the meeting, however, the Muslim members of IRSMP clarified that in Islam there is no baptism sacrament equivalent to that of Christians because Muslims are believed to be born already anointed or belonging to the Islam faith. The IRSMP since its creation some four years ago holds monthly meetings to discuss public issues, special concerns of the city’s faith communities, and the status of its projects. The lead convenor is Fr. Angel Calvo, president of PAZ, which is the interfaith group’s secretariat. During the assembly, Subanon chief Noval Lambo, president of the federation of his tribe’s various associations in the Zamboanga Peninsula and whose group is also an organizational member of IRSMP, formally conferred a “sacred cane” to Fr. Calvo to signify his honorific ascension in the ranks of the spiritual leaders of the tribe. Explaining the bestowal of the “baston no tano”, as the kamagong cane is called in Subanon, Lambo said the Subanon community in Zamboanga is grateful to Fr. Calvo for IRSMP’s and his personal initiatives to put the tribe’s cultural and economic problems and concerns in today’s public agenda. Last November as part of the Week of Peace 2009 celebration, IRSMP members visited the Subanon stronghold of Lintangan barangay in Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte to unveil a peace marker and make a religious pilgrimage to a Muslim shrine located along its beach. To set the tone and priorities of IRSMP’s directions in 2010, Fr. Calvo in his welcome remarks said the group should focus on two critical processes this year. These are the national elections in May and the revived peace talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). He said the election poses a challenge to civil societies in Mindanao like the IRSMP to do their share to help ensure that it shall be peaceful and honest. Regarding the peace talks in Kuala Lumpur, Fr. Calvo said civil society in Mindanao have been invited by government to articulate the sectoral and grassroot recommendations and concerns of their communities with regards to the anticipated peace deal but especially as well for a long-term solution to the 40-year old regional social conflict. He urged IRSMP members to take pro-active steps this year to push forward the peace process. In the same meeting, Dr. Rufina Cruz, Western Mindanao State University (WMSU) executive assistant of university president Dr. Grace Rebollos, reported on the accomplishments of this January’s peace summit held at the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) located in Penang, Malaysia in which some 30 of Mindanao’s State university and college presidents participated. One of the outcomes of the summit is an agreement among the university presidents to link with civil society groups like the IRSMP to undertake peace-making projects in the coming months. The summit was initiated by Dr. Rebollos, who is also vice-president of PAZ. The upcoming trip of four IRSMP members to West Papua, a province in Indonesia also called Irian Jaya, was also discussed. The Muslim and Christian leaders of the culturally- and politically-conflicted Indon province have invited the IRSMP to send a delegation to participate in their Day of Peace celebration on February 5.  |