To Achieve Peace, Be a Jessie Robredo, His Widow Urged

PEACE results mainly from sufficient trust between and among peoples in a society, said Camarines Sur congresswoman Maria Leonor Robredo, widow of posthumous Peaceweaver Awardee Jessie Robredo in her keynote address to Zamboanga City’s barangay officials on Monday, December 1.

This is the driving belief of her late husband during his 20-month stint as secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government as he strove to launch reforms in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and initiating some 3,000 peace actions in southern Philippines, the congresswoman told the officials and other civil society guests. She said that based on her husband’s experience as an outstanding mayor of Naga City, trust-driven collaboration between citizens and their local government is indispensable in the determination and implementation of community development projects on whose social welfare peace is built upon.

Peace Advocates Zamboanga (PAZ) and partner Interreligious Solidarity for Peace (ISP) conducted the Peace and Governance Conference held on Monday as part of the Week of Peace 2014 celebration from November to December 3. On Sunday, three Peaceweaver awards were conferred on Robredo – received by Representative Robredo, Ustadz Adbulquddos Sanday Jamad, and DepEd Superintendent of Division of City Schools Pedro Melchor Natividad. The ceremony was held in the Claret School gymnasium.

In his welcome remarks, ISP lead convenor Fr. Angel Calvo recalled that ex-DILG secretary Robredo ordered through a memorandum to his regional offices to establish peace and governance collaborations with local society organizations, thus starting off a series of joint projects between PAZ and the DILG.

He said PAZ-ISP is very proud and happy in the ongoing joint effort to foster good governance practices in selected barangays, where all the dynamics of peace-making are found. He added that Congresswoman Robredo is the best political leader to continue this legacy of her husband.

Robredo said the people of Mindanao no longer need her husband to continue the work of peace-building since he has shown and inculcated in them how to accomplish it. She said people must work in trust and confidence in one another, believe in one another, and ensure good governance. Be a Jessie Robredo in your own way, she extolled.

Recent Comments

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.