‘One Million Voices for Peace’ launched

Hundreds of youths joined the celebration of International Peace Day in Quezon City Wednesday, which took on a new meaning this year as it coincided with the anniversary of the declaration of martial law 39 years ago.

After declaring a suspension of military operations across the country to honor Peace Day, students and out-of-school youths are seeking a longer ceasefire through the “One Million Voices for Peace” campaign for a final settlement of the communist and Muslim insurgencies.

“Peace Day is remembered globally but what sets the Philippine celebration apart is that the date coincides with the commemoration of the declaration of martial law. This is why our national theme this year is ‘Peace is our right.’” We are highlighting our collective right to peace,” said Debbie Cabanag, who has been participating in the United Nations-declared celebrations for the past three years.

In One Million Voices for Peace (facebook.com/givepeaceashot), the young and the young-at-heart are encouraged to “give face to peace” by declaring their support for the peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The youth network, Generation Peace (GenPeace), organized the simultaneous celebrations in 7 key areas—Cebu, Nueva Vizcaya, Iloilo, Surigao del Norte, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur and Quezon City. Eight indigenous peoples groups also conducted peace rituals in the Sierra Madre in Luzon and in Mount Apo in Davao.

Most of the people who witnessed martial law as it happened identified themselves as part of Gen X, while most of the participants in the event responded to the call of Gen Y.

“Here, we’re all GenPeace,” said one out-of-school youth who joined the fun run.

In a message he sent, President Benigno Aquino III said “the government pledges solidarity to this cause, in accordance with the conviction that the Filipino people’s progress is founded on an environment of peace and stability.”

Colonel Dickson Hermoso, chief of the Armed Forces Peace Process, said the administration’s new policy was no longer about winning the war by arms, but winning the peace through civilian and medical missions.

“What we have to arrest are the threats to human security such as poverty. We in the military cannot do that alone,” he said.