Rizal Hall, Malacanang

PGMA's Speech during the Launching Ceremony of the Bishops-Ulama Conference - Armed Forces of the Philippines - Philippine National Police
(BUC-AFP-PNP) Forum for Peace

Thank you, Secretary Gilbert Teodoro for your introduction.

His Grace Archbishop Capalla and the other Catholic bishops; Dr. Mahid Mutilan and the other Muslim Ulamas; His Grace Bishop Gomez and the other Christian bishops; Bishop Tumulak; Secretary Gonzales and Dureza and the other government officials; General Esperon and our other officers of the Armed Forces; General Calderon and our other officers of the Philippine National Police; members of the Bishop-Ulama Conference Tripartite Commission, ladies and gentlemen.

In these sensitive times, we thank god that we have strong groups committed to God, country and the flag.

We have the Bishop-Ulama Conference, you are the bastion of collective faith in our nation. In Mindanao, we have been able to meld together confidence-building measures grounded on strong interfaith dialogue under the leadership of the Bishop-Ulama Conference. You're 11 years old now and so you preceded all these fashionable advocacy for interfaith dialogue. And I was very honored that during the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations when the Philippines presided over the interfaith dialogue, I could have a story to tell of the Bishops-Ulama conference and what you have been doing all these years.

And through your leadership therefore as I said, our soft power, our confidence-building measures in Mindanao are first of all spearheaded by interfaith dialogue and cultural awareness; investments and basic infrastructure development; and mutual security arrangements to keep the peace.

We have the armed forces and the police representing our fighting faith in the war between good and evil. Our men and women in uniform are good, upstanding and loyal patriots, fighting to protect our country everyday. We must respect their command structure and disclosure rules, which are indispensable for our security.

Today, we are gathered here in the cause of peace, justice and national reconciliation. We all live under one national flag and under one banner of heaven, under one God. I call on our leaders in public and private positions of responsibility, in civilian life and military life to join, to continue joining, to continue to chart a course of investment in our people and economic growth. On my part, I am bound and determined to captain a steady ship.

We live by the rule of law. We abide by what the courts of the land decide. We must be a government that honors contracts and agreements that go through the required processes despite media attacks. And we must be a government that abides by what the courts of the land decide on matters of dispute.

The government has stayed focused on what the Filipinos yearn for most. Tired of political drama and social instability, we are entering a new era where the vast majority wants a predictable future, a steady job and a calm political climate.

We are moving on as a nation. The people are concerned about maintaining peace, order and stability. We have been through many upheavals. The people deserve a stable government and economic progress. That is what they are getting now.

The Philippine economy holds great promise for every single Filipino, if only we can come together as a nation and put the nation's interests ahead of individual desires. So, we call on all leaders to rally around our country, our economy so that it can truly lift up all boats. And we ask the whole world to support the Philippines on the road to national consolidation.

The state of our economy brings hope and excitement. Our growth is the highest in a generation, revenue is now on track, and job creation is strong. Our deficit is down, consumer confidence is up, and inflation is holding steady. The foundation of our economic comeback is wide, deep and solid. Across the board, the nation's economy is pointed in the right direction and for the right reasons. We are close to a peace agreement with the MILF -- thanks once again to the Bishops-Ulama Conference -- we remain optimistic because of you that we can overcome the final barriers on ancestral domain so that we can give finality to the peace. However, even now we have already achieved a great deal. The region is vastly improved in terms of safety, security and economic growth. So the current agreements that we have are making things better even as we await the final peace agreement. And it will really take off if we achieve lasting peace and the millions of foreign aid promised comes pouring in.

Kasama ng balangkas pangkapayapaan ang amnestiya at kabuhayan sa mga rebeldeng ibig bumalik sa panig ng batas. Kalahating bilyong piso ang paunang pondo rito, upang mabilis na itanim ang matibay na kapayapaan at seguridad sa mga rehiyon, sa pangunguna ng mga pinunong lokal at relihiyoso kagaya ninyo, at katulong ang buong gobyerno ng bansa.

We guarantee the leftist insurgents willing to turn their guns into plowshares and respect the rule of law another opportunity to regain normal life under proclamation 1377 issued last week. But we must emphasize that amnesty shall not apply to terrorist groups, whose violence and treacherous deeds can never be countenanced as arising from legitimate political struggle. The communist rebels have spent years as a low-level threat. It's time for their disruption and violation of human rights to be put to rest so that the nation can move ahead. They impede the progress and development of a number of rural areas. They're responsible for a wide range of human rights abuses. If we are to become a modernized country, we have to put a stop to their ideological nonsense and their criminal acts once and for all. It's either amnesty or military solution. Whichever way, communist rebellion must be stopped.

The military solution is our last option, but we must be prepared to wield this option when peace is broken, when non-combatants cower in fear and development initiatives are halted. Tulad ng sinabi ko na sa ating mga sundalo ilang beses: hindi tayo aatras ng pakibaka upang mabigyan ng kapayapaan at kaunlaran ang bayan.

The Abu Sayyaf stand in the way of bringing peace, stability and order to Southern Philippines. We must wipe them out once and for all. They are a menace to peace and a beacon for international thugs who wish to join their ranks.

And so, I thank the members of the Bishop-Ulama Conference and the leaders of the AFP and the PNP for the peace covenant that you have just handed to me which we shall transform into action, on the premise that peace and development are twinned, one cannot exist for long without the other.

We reach out to all who are willing to talk peace with an olive branch. We have authorized the holding of local peace and security assemblies, the first of which was held in Bohol late last month, to bring the local government units and the civil society especially including the religious sector into the locus of peace-making and peace-keeping. Our next local assembly will be in Butuan in Agusan Del Sur. And we are looking forward to the clergy playing a major role in the peace efforts there.

The way to peace isn't through the barrel of a gun. That's why the military solution is the last option. Rather the way to peace begins with providing a person a job, food on the table and human dignity. Central to that success is to invest in the people, in education, health care, roads, bridges and schools. In Western Mindanao, we have worked closely with the U.S. military and other O.D.A. partners on an amazing number of community public works projects. The positive impact of these projects cannot be overstated, from health care to building schools, the outreach has built more than buildings, it has built trust.

We will replicate this paradigm in other poor and remote areas of our country through the KALAHI barangays and the Kalayaan barangays. The state of our economy today as I said brings hope and excitement and we will be able to afford this KALAHI barangays and Kalayaan barangays in the next few years to come. It is because revenue is now on track. For the last two months the B.I.R. and the B.O.C. have been able to achieve their targets and that is why we can spend on peace.

Our deficit is down and therefore we don't borrow so much. Our interest rates are down and that is good for our entrepreneurs. And because the interest rate is down, businessmen don't have to add interest cost so much to their goods, and that is why inflation is holding steady. So, all of these are related to the economy and we'll talk about peace.

Our economy has created six million jobs in six years. It has helped raise wages, lower the rate of poverty, even the World Bank and the ADB say that. Invest in education and health care and invest heavily in roads, bridges and vital services. This is what the people of the nation deserve. And I would like to report to our good Bishops-Uamas that to ensure transparency and good governance in our massive public investments, we are creating under the government procurement policy board, a procurement transparency group chaired by the department of budget and management, and including the justice, interior and local government, and economic planning departments, plus representatives of civil society organization for procurement reform, which trains and fields external observers in government bids and awards committees nationwide. This group which the cabinet approved yesterday shall monitor procurement bidding and report anomalies to agency heads as well as governance bodies like the ombudsman and the commission on audit.

Yesterday, the cabinet also approved the pro-performance infrastructure monitoring group which shall also harness civil society and the private sector in ensuring that public works projects serve the needs and objectives for which they are undertaken and contract terms and timetables are complied with.

We are writing a new chapter in Philippine economic history through the use of tight fiscal reforms complemented by targeted investments in our people and infrastructure. And cost-cutting measures and elimination of red tape to allow our small entrepreneurs and foreign investors alike to move more rapidly to create new businesses. And I hope that this new chapter in economic history will also bring about a new chapter in our social history.

To the extent allowed by the constitutional restriction of separation of church and state, we support the activities of religious groups to provide livelihood opportunities together with spiritual guidance to the members. We are all like-minded in our desire for peace.

And we have high hopes that the BUC-Military-Police Forum, which you have promised will happen every three months, will play a key role in the nation's peace and stability in the future.

Let us continue on this day of prayer and reconciliation to pray for peace even as we work harder to sustain it.

Mabuhay ang kapayapaan at kaunlaran! Mabuhay tayong lahat!

Maraming salamat.