Various Church groups in the Philippines called on the government and the country’s communist rebels to resume peace talks “without delay.”
“The clergy, the religious, and the lay from various denominations and across generations cannot stand idly by watching the reign of terror, due to draconian measures imposed,” read a statement issued by the Philippine Ecumenical Platform for Peace on February 22.
The group said human rights abuses continue spreading “faster than the unseen virus that has devastated economies and caused untold suffering to the millions of the vulnerable in the Philippines.”
The peace alliance of Catholic and Protestant Churches said the breakdown of the peace negotiations has “contributed significantly to the increase in human rights violations and the worsening climate of impunity in the country.”
They added that the COVID-19 pandemic has also impacted the peace process as the negotiations were supposed to resume after the successful backchannel talks toward the end of 2019.
“Bringing back to the negotiating table the peace process would allow both parties to resume work on the halted Interim Peace Agreement that would pave the way for a final negotiated settlement,” read the group’s statement.
“The Christians firm belief in God’s love yields hope that peace – through principled negotiations – is highly feasible,” it added.
The organization held its annual peace summit online last week.
