PEPP supports new peace talk initiatives

The Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP), the largest ecumenical formation of church leaders in the country today, supports the efforts of President-elect Rodrigo Roa Duterte to resume the formal peace talks between the Government of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. PEPP appreciates the promise to release political prisoners including NDFP Consultants as a confidence building measure for the talks.

PEPP welcomes the news that the president-elect will send emissaries to Oslo, Norway this month to talk to their counterparts in the NDFP. PEPP believes that the preliminary talks between incoming Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and incoming peace adviser Jesus Dureza with NDFP Peace Panel Chair, Luis Jalandoni, and NDFP Chief Political Consultant, Professor Jose Ma. Sison, will bear fruit. The prospects of a ceasefire from both sides may also bring favorable conditions.

PEPP welcomes the promise that all signed agreements that were painstakingly negotiated by both parties in the past will be honored to serve as building blocks for future agreements.

PEPP remains steadfast in its conviction that addressing the roots of the armed conflict in the country by engaging in principled dialogue is a positive step forward. We hope that through the resumption of the formal peace talks, social justice and the need for fundamental socio-economic reforms will finally be tackled.

We enjoin all peace-loving Filipinos to continually pray and tirelessly work for peace by supporting these new initiatives toward peace by the incoming Administration.  With our faith, we resolve and pray to continue supporting the GPH-NDFP negotiations as part of our people's quest for a just and enduring peace.

The PEPP is a platform for five church institutions/groups, namely, the Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines, National Council of Churches in the Philippines, Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines, Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, and the Ecumenical Bishops' Forum, in working for a just and enduring peace by supporting the peace process in the Philippines starting with the call for the resumption of the formal peace talks between the GPH-NDFP.

Issued and signed on 8th  June 2016.

 (Sgd) Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma, SJ, DD                 

Co-chairperson, PEPP

(Sgd) Rev. Fr. Rex RB Reyes Jr.

Co-chairperson, PEPP                                               

(Sgd) Bishop Deogracias S. Iñiguez, Jr., DD

Head, PEPP Head, Secretary

(Sgd) Bishop Noel A. Pantoja

National Director, PCEC

 (Sgd) Sr. Mary John M. Mananzan, OSB

Institute of Women Studies

St. Scholastica's College