A Fervent Prayer for Peace

To the Government of the Philippines and their Supporters and the National Democratic Front and their Supporters

11 April 2011 revised 26 May 2011

A FERVENT PRAYER FOR PEACE

We are Peace and Justice Advocates spread out all over the Philippines and the worldscattered, in the millions, in the far-flung countries of the globeall earnestly praying for peace and justice in our beloved homeland.

The armed conflict between the Marxist and Maoist rebels groups on one hand and the government military and paramilitary forces, on the other hand, has been going on for over half a century. It is one of the longest such struggles in the world. And there is no apparent end in sight.

Since its inception, countless lives have been lost among the combatants as well as in the civilian population. The youth at the prime time of their lives have become martyrs to this cause. Some children have been caught in the crossfire. Tens of thousands more have been displacedlosing their properties, land or means of livelihood, living miserable lives, dreams deferred, abandoned or lost altogether. Poverty, lack of education, hunger and ill-health stalk them; infrastructures that underpin our economy damaged or destroyed, impeding our economic development.

We understand, even sympathize with, the grievances of the rebel groups. They are driven to desperation and hopelessness, denied, on a number of occasions, access to democratic space to voice their concerns, or simply ignored, and in some cases deliberately exploited and oppressed. Worse, those whom we consider as the protectors of our people have perpetrated violence against them.

We understand, too, the position of the government to defend its legitimacy to govern, even as we know on some occasions the levers of political powers have been obtained by fraudulent means and utilized, along with military force, to coerce and repress the poor, the uneducated and the disenfranchised.

Faced with massive problems from withinpoverty, corruption, poor education, and lack of access to health care, malnutrition and hungerand competitive pressures, even onerous practices, from without as a result of a globalized world, this state of chronic armed struggle impairs our capacity to make significant progress on our internal problems and to compete effectively with other nations. We put at risk our present and future. "A house divided against itself will fall."

We have to settle this once and for all to move forward as a nation. Both sides have their own shortcomings and excesses in furthering their causes and what they believe in. But in governance, political change and striving for a better life for all, the situation is not the proverbial Irresistible force and the immovable object. Each side has to compromise for the good of all.

We urge the National Democratic Front, the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New Peoples Army and the Government of the Philippines to immediately ceasefire and negotiate NOW the terms of Peace and Justice. The Filipino people have suffered too long and too much in the crossfire between the warring parties. The country is being held back in progress and development while neighboring nations are passing us by in almost all human and economic indicators. The Philippines is not just the "sick man of Asia" but its people have scattered in all four corners of the world and the seven seas in a tragic Diaspora, some as lowly servants, sex slaves, and drug mules holding onto knife blades for their own survival and their loved ones left back home.

We implore the combatants of the ideological divide to craft an agreement based on peace with justice and compassion towards national reconciliation. With peace, justice, compassion, and a spirit of national reconciliation, we can move on and build a better Philippines.

Only given the foregoing conditions, primarily with peace and justice, can we mobilize and harness and take full advantage of our capabilities as a people, and our natural resources, which are considerable, for the fulfillment of our individual and collective needs and aspirations in our own land. Then our people will no longer be forced by economic circumstances to make a living in foreign lands, where some meet untold sufferings, treated like slaves, machines or commodities. Given the appropriate leadership, we can be creative and productive in a land we call home.

We appeal to the National Democratic Front of the Communist Party of the Philippines (NDF-CPP) to reflect on the appropriateness and continued relevance of their almost unchanging ideological driving force, especially the vow of so many of its adherents that only through a protracted war, the armed struggle, and rivers of blood and a nationwide chorus of lamentations throughout the width and breath of our Homeland can a just, peaceful, progressive, and respected society be attained.

Given the undeniable and massive changes in the world when the now discredited Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the so-called socialist and communist countries of Eastern Europe collapsed, historical and economic determinism and the inevitability of socialism through revolutions are not the unchanging laws of history.

When the satellite countries of the USSR collapsed in Eastern Europe, corruption was unbelievable among the topmost leaders of the political leadership.

In Communist China and Communist Vietnam where formerly rigid doctrines have adapted to sociological, cultural, political, and economic realities and, to lesser extent, to more humane and human values, are those countries on the road to communism?

We appeal to the leadership and the idealistic adherents of the National Democratic Front to assess their achievements in the 41 years that they have been waging this war of national liberation.

We appeal to the National Democratic Front to consider the alternative of a peaceful struggle to attain political power in collaboration with other groups, which, like them, are also fighting for a better Philippines, but pursuing it within the parameters of the law and democratic processes.

We are convinced that an unending armed struggle in our homelandfighting for principles through violence and armsmay have become passй and ineffective in the Philippines and the world in contemporary times in the light of more urgent and critical issues such as inexorable climate change, clashing systems of religious faith, a global political and economic order reeling from the disastrous economic policies in America, and in the homeland, massive environmental degradation, and the destruction of the network that sustains life.

We appeal to our political and our governmental leaders and their economic and business supporters to be more receptive and responsive to the concerns of the poor and marginalized, to be more effective and transparent in governance, to enlarge the democratic space for dialogue, to exercise utmost restraint in the use of force and to stop from committing human rights abuses in the course of ostensibly defending the Government, and to observe strict adherence to the principles that govern a civilized society, a society that ostensibly has a Constitution and is governed by the rule of law.

Whatever divides usbe it political, social, and economic factorsis not beyond human resolution, nor beyond compromises that are beneficial to everyone concerned.

We implore both sides of the ideological divide to convert their swords into plowshares, to harness those weapons for productive, creative uses for a nation in dire strait.

We believe that the pursuit of PEACE with JUSTICE is a cause greater than anyone of uswhatever political or social persuasion we may have, whatever cultural values we cherish.

We firmly believe that Peace with Justice and the achievement of very real possibilitieshealth, progress, prosperity, happiness, hope for a better tomorrow, and a people treated with dignity and not disrespected all over the worldare not beyond fulfillment for the 101 million Filipinos, for their children and the future generations of our people. We believe that it is within our power to make these dreams a reality.

Our Fervent Prayer: Let us exert every effort to have Peace and Justice enshroud our Beloved Homeland.

For Bayan Ko! Onward to a Better Philippines, we are: