APPEAL TO ALL PEOPLE OF GOODWILL

APPEAL TO ALL PEOPLE OF GOODWILL...

Let us face the challenges of the forthcoming Plebiscite on January 21st, 2019, with complete confidence in our belief and full respect for the differences in positions vis-à-vis BOL and the inclusion or exclusion of the City.

IAG believes that, in the end, the good and the true shall prevail, perhaps not in the immediate but in the fullness of time. It is for this reason that IAG is full of optimism for the RA 11054 whatever the results of the Plebiscites on January 21 and February 6, 2019.

Whether we are for or against inclusion, we must NOT forget that we are all united and stakeholders to peace and development of Mindanao, in particular, and the Philippines, as a whole.

WE REMEMBER THAT OUR FRIENDSHIP, TRUST AND RESPECT FOR ONE ANOTHER'S BELIEF ARE STRONGER THAN THE DIFFERENCES IN OUR POLITICS AND POSITIONS.

THE QUR'AN ENJOINS US: ". If God had willed, He would have made you one nation; but that He may try you in what has come to you. So be you forward in good works; unto God shall you return all together; and He will tell you of that whereon you were at variance." (Sura 5: 48)

Furthermore, . the Qur’an speaks that “It is not piety, that you turn your faces to the East and to the West. True piety is this: to believe in God, and the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets, to give of one’s substance, however cherished, to kinsmen, and orphan, the needy, the traveler, beggars, and to ransom the slave, to perform the prayer, to pay the alms” (Sura 2: 172).

The Beatitudes are very appropriate to us these days, especially

'BLESSED ARE THE GENTLE, FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH' (Matthew 5: 5); and

"BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS, FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED CHILDREN OF GOD" (Matthew 5: 9).

PEACE AND BLESSING.

Fr. Eliseo "Jun" Mercado, OMI

Badaliyya - Philippines

January 8, 2019