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MESSAGE
COL BENITO T DE LEON INF (GSC) PA, Comdr, 104th Inf (Sultan) Bde, 1ID, PA
Speaker, Pagana Maranao in Celebration of Eid’l Adha
Theme: Peace Through Reconciliation”
Elena Tower Inn, Tibanga, Iligan City/110900 December 2008
Assallamu Alaikum. Maayong Iligan.
May I greet all of you today especially the political, traditional, and
religious leaders representing the Christians, Higa‐unons, and
Muslims communities who are here in the celebration of “Eid’l Adha”
or the Day of Sacrifice. I am, indeed, honored to speak before this
gathering to contribute to a priority program of City Mayor Lawrence
Cruz in promoting understanding, harmony, peace, and ultimately
economic prosperity between the diverse cultural and religious
groups particularly here in Iligan City.
“Peace through reconciliation”—the theme for this occasion—to my
mind, is a fitting approach if we are to attain unity of purpose in
attaining our goals despite our religious and cultural diversity. This
attitude is workable as it is proven and observeable in our own
military organization. You will note that your military, the Armed
Forces of the Philippines, is composed of peoples coming from the
various ethno‐cultural and religious backgrounds. It is a mix, among
many others, of the Ilocanos, Tagalogs, Pangasinenses, Bicolanos
from Luzon; the Warays, Illonggos, and Cebuanos from the Visayas;
and, the Maranaos, Maguindanaoans, Tausugs, and Lumads including
Higa‐unons from Mindanao. All of these hold varied beliefs of the
many Christian sects, Islam, and others. Despite this mixture, your
military is harmoniously united in serving its purpose of protecting
the Filipino people. Your Armed Forces have also contributed in
attaining peace through reconciliation with its acceptance and
integration of the former Moro National Liberation Front or the
MNLF separatists into its ranks. These demonstrate that peace can
be attained if we do exert an effort to understand others and seek
harmony. All these must, however, start in seeking to understand
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and in seeking harmony with our inner selves, before we can then
extend to aspire understanding and harmony with others.
This Day of Sacrifice has another significance to the soldiers as
military professionals. Similarly, as the Almighty tested the faith of
Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his most beloved son, your
soldiers are also asked to sacrifice their comfort and liberty even
their lives, if need be, to serve the Filipino people. Their sense of
patriotism is driven only with faith in the capacity their leaders. Such
faith or strength of spirit is drawn only from the hope and inspiration
more so their faith in our government and the Almighty that their
loved ones and the citizens of the Philippine Republic will enjoy the
fruits of their sacrifices.
And so as we commemorate this Day of Sacrifice or “Eid’l Adha,” let
us once more bring to mind the lesson of Abraham’s agonizing test of
sacrifice. We can all add more meaning to this occasion by taking a
sacrificial step in seeking to understand and reconcile with ourselves
and eventually with others for the ends of peace and prosperity in
our land. We must do this now with a strong faith in our leaders and
passionate faith in our people for the hope of a better tomorrow for
all of us now and the future generations.
Maayong Iligan. Wassallam.
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