| PGMA's speech during a Dinner with the Delegation of the Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace (AAPP) |
Ceremonial Hall, Malacanang (03 Sept 2003) |
| Thank you, Speaker de Venecia.
And congratulations for putting together this great assembly of leaders of parliaments all
over Asia. And to the rest of you, excellencies, honorable leaders of the Asian parliaments, I have this to say: "Thank you. Thank you for being with us here, and in behalf of our country, thank you for your collective commitment to peace." Many events over the past year have put our shared dream of lasting peace under threat. This makes us realize how truly important our tasks are, and how much remains to be done. I've just returned from attending the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council meeting in Brunei this morning. I was there only for a few hours so that I could be back here to be able to host this dinner for you tonight. Just the other day, I attended the Ramon Magsaysay awards ceremonies that conferred recognition inspiring Asians in various fields of human endeavor. These twin events converge with this gathering as a celebration of the excellence and the spirit of Asia, and of the great progress of which we are capable -- in waging peace, in gaining prosperity for our peoples. This year you have gathered with the dream of making the 21st century - as Speaker de Venecia said, "a century of peace" -- and armed with the determination to make that dream a reality. Peace is something that no nation can achieve alone. Thinking of peace without thinking globally is like refusing to help pull the oars to push the ship forward. The quest of peace must be undivided by territory, sovereignty or creed. Each one's struggle is everyone's own. The most formidable challenges to peace are in Asia, Iraq and the Middle East, Afghanistan, the Korean Peninsula, South Asia, Southeast Asia. But the key to global peace also lies in our region, and in its governments, and in parliaments, and peoples. History waits upon how we rise to these challenges. The Philippines has worked hard for peace. We've sent a peacekeeping and humanitarian mission to Iraq to help hold the line of peace and order and engage in humanitarian endeavors. We support the road map to peace in the Middle East. Propelled by the initiative of Speaker de Venecia, the Philippines is proposing the creation of an interfaith council as a regular organ of the United Nations to mediate the dialogue of civilizations, the dialogue of cultures, the dialogue of religions. This was the offshoot of the first Asian gathering of Muslim Ulama and Christian Bishops that the Philippines hosted last month. Our government has initiated, with Indonesia and Malaysia, a tripartite agreement committed to practical measures against terrorism, an agreement to which other countries in Southeast Asia have since acceded in the name of regional peace. It's our responsibility to share in the work to put down the threat of terrorism once and for all because we realize that our national security is impossible without international security and vice versa. In the same vein, our government continues to work for peace in Mindanao, and I thank you, honorable leaders of the Asian parliaments, for your support. We work for this peace not solely through cease fires and political accords, but hand in hand with economic and social development. Peace in Mindanao and the welfare of our Muslim brethren are essential to the welfare of all Filipinos. Negotiations will soon start in Kuala Lumpur towards a final peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and I thank once again Prime Minister Mahathir for his gracious support. The United States has also committed to play a role, a leading role in post-conflict rehabilitation in Mindanao. We await the visit of president bush next month as a milestone for peace in the region. Across the world, as Speaker de Venecia said, the government of Norway is also helping facilitate exploratory talks between the Philippines and the National Democratic Front. My administration works for "positive peace," a peace that emanates from addressing not just the obvious immediate causes of conflict, but by striking boldly at its roots -- inequity, injustice, economic exclusion. Three principles guide our peace process: First, the peace process must reflect the sentiments, values and principles important to all Filipinos. Not the dictates of the government or of different minority interests, but the mandate of all Filipinos as one national community -- under one constitution, one flag, one sovereignty, one territorial integrity. Second, a peaceful society is one that is just, equitable and pluralistic, where its citizens are free to express their beliefs through the exercise of constitutional rights and liberties in a multi-ethnic society. And third, the peace process must aim for the principled and peaceful resolution of armed conflict, with neither blame nor surrender, but with dignity for all concerned. Our principled peace is built upon reform, consensus-building, empowerment, just reconciliation, and preferential attention to the poor, because peace and development are twins of each other. Our culture of peace incorporates the totality of environmental care and ecological sustainability; and the perspectives, expertise and rights of women and indigenous people. The culture of peace extends to the infusion of ethical, moral and spiritual values in all levels of human interaction; the full accountability of governments; and the solidarity of all peoples, ethnic communities, states and international organizations. Let me cite a little village called barangay Inug-ug in the town of Pagalungan, in Maguindanao, in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. In that village, both Christians and Muslims, along with several non-governmental organizations and religious leaders, took the initiative to ask both the military and the rebels of the MILF to leave their community. The community is now a "sanctuary of peace," by the will of the people and the almighty. We are all aware that peace is a long, complicated process that entails much more than just the laying down of arms and the silencing of guns. True and lasting peace -- the peace that will last the hundred years that this assembly hopes for, and more -- means that we have to create the space and the conditions for it to grow and to take root. It's important to strike down terrorism, and it's important to have those who would threaten our peace feel the full force of the law. But to decisively stanch bloodshed and defeat all kinds of violence, we must provide the people with the dignity that all human beings are entitled to. We must address the seeds of the hatred that spawns the recruits of evil. We must fight poverty as relentlessly as we fight terrorism. "Peace is not an absence of war," the philosopher Spinoza wrote. "it's a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice." He said that over four hundred years ago. On that note, I thank you for being part of this assembly, for agreeing to work all together with the Philippines and for all the countries represented here today, and those others that may not be here but nevertheless share our grand vision. There are many who would say that global peace is impossible to achieve within our lifetimes. But even if we don't live to see that dream come true, then let that be our legacy to our children, who may yet within the century see the full blossom of our labors. Let our children and the rising generations know that we created for them the foundation for a true and lasting peace, the peace of a century and farther beyond. "We must be the change we want to see in the world." That was said by a great Asian who also knew what it was to undertake the arduous work for peace, Mahatma Gandhi. In this light, let's forge along the road towards a hundred years of peace. Mabuhay sa inyong lahat! |