To move from hostility or bias and prejudice towards mutual respect and mutual understanding and then towards mutual friendship, leads one to embrace what I would call love of one another, love of neighbor, as enjoined by the Bible.

~ His Eminence Cardinal Orlando Beltran Quevedo

Remarks by Cardinal Orlando Beltran Quevedo

During his remarks, Cardinal Orlando Beltran Quevedo spoke of the vital role played by religion and culture in fostering peace between Muslim and Christian communities on the island of Mindanao in the Southern Philippines, where a decades-long conflict left thousands dead and over half a million displaced:

The most important part of my own life as a priest and as a bishop was Action for Peace. For 40 years, the Muslim revolutionary fronts waged war with the government, and I was asked to be an informal consultant to the government and the Muslim revolutionary fronts. Finally, the 40-year war in which hundreds of thousands were killed — civilians and troops alike — ended with a peace agreement, and the revolutionary fronts and the government called me to witness its signing….

[The goal of my action group] is to establish solidarity between diverse cultures and religious traditions, and by traditions I also mean the indigenous peoples’ beliefs. To move from hostility or bias and prejudice towards mutual respect and mutual understanding and then towards mutual friendship, leads one to embrace what I would call love of one another, love of neighbor, as enjoined by the Bible.

Zambales Mountains, Luzon island. Photo credit: Aninah Ong