Welcomed by a thunderous applause from a jam-packed mass during the feast of Christ the King today at the St. Nino cathedral in Calapan, Mindoro, the Duyog Mindanao Caravan for Peace and Solidarity, started their fourth day of a ten day-long trip attending mass. The mass was officiated by the Vicar General Fr. Nestor Adalia, who delivered a homily asking his parishioners to support the calls of the caravan. Posters and banners supporting the caravan’s calls were plastered all over the cathedral with the main one at the churche’s entrance emblazoned ” Continue the Peace Talks in Mindanao!”
Oriental Mindoro Governor Arnan Panaligan also attended the same mass and delivered a message to the caravan participants after the service reiterating that “everybody is affected by any war wherever it is happening in the country”. That is why Mindoro is also concerned with the plight of the thousands of victims of the war whose voices the caravan are bringing. Both the governor and Vicar General signed the caravan’s petition calling for a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Mindanao.
More than 30 Moro, Indigenous people and Christian settlers from Mindanao, accompanied by partners and friends from the Cordillera and Metro Manila are snaking their way to Mindanao for the Peace caravan. It is expected to make stops at Roxas town in Mindoro on its way to Caticlan and then Iloilo in Panay.
More than a thousand people welcomed the caravan yesterday as it hit Metro Manila at the Quezon City Memorial Circle. Various peoples organizations and institutions convened a multi-sectoral forum at the circle when they arrived. The peace bell was then rung by representatives of the evacuees contingent in the caravan. The caravan had made earlier stops at Calumpit and Malolos in Bulacan, San Fernando, Pampanga and Baguio City. The caravan then visited the Muslim community at the Maharlika village in Taguig City for a short interaction and program before it proceeded to Batangas to catch a ferry to Calapan.
