Peace rally today at Luneta

Bishop Teodoro Bacani and Vice President Teofisto Guingona will lead today at the Luneta Park what may well be the broadest movement in the country against the US-led war against Iraq. The Nationwide Prayer Assembly, which runs from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., gathers over 100 organizations into a multi-sectoral and multi-faith prayer rally for peace.

The bishop and the Vice President earlier began a "quilt for peace; at the St. Peter’s Church on Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City to represent the collective aspirants for peace of many Filipinos.

"The Quilt for Peace is a colorful and powerful symbol of the Filipino people’s united stand against the United States’ war in Iraq and Mindanao," they said in a joint statement released Tuesday." Each panel, each piece of cloth that will be stitched to it will be a reminder to our government that Filipinos, especially the youth, would have nothing of any immoral and unjust war."

They said the quilt will go bigger as the movement against the US war in Iraq and Mindanao continues to grow and reach more schools, communities, factories, offices and churches.

Various groups from across the Left spectrum, from the militant groups Bayan and its allied groups, to Sanlakas and its allied groups, to Akbayan and its allied groups have expressed support for the prayer rally.

Organizers said that after the Feb. 28 Nationwide Prayer Assembly for Peace, the peace movement would take the quilt across the country in various marches, assemblies and fora. "We will urge everyone to make it bigger, add their own quilts and squares of cloth, hang them outside their houses, schools and places of work," they said.

"Let this Quilt for Peace be a colorful reminder to the world: The Philippines says no to the US war in Iraq and Mindanao! The Philippines says yes to peace!"

The militant group Sanlakas and the Peace Camp will also launch tonight a parallel activity called "Pinoy Woodstock" at the University of the Philippines Arboretum. The two-night concert gathers anti-war activists, musicians and other artists in a musical event aimed to raise public awareness about the dire implications of a US-launched war in the Middle East. – Romel Bagares