DFA Invites BUC as Partner

The Office of Civilian Security and Secular Concerns (OCSSC) of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has invited the Bishops-Ulama Conference (BUC) as partner in interfaith dialogue.

At our meeting last March 21, 2017 in the above DFA OCSSC Special Assistant Winston Dean S. Almeda and Undersecretary Rina de Chavez I officially accepted the invitation as Chairman of the BUC board of directors in the presence of Ms. Lou Q. Solijon, our Secretariat’s Executive Director.

Mr. Almeda informed us that Interfaith Dialogue is one of the important security concerns of the ASEAN (Association of the Southeast Asian Nations). He will later call a meeting of all DFA partners for coordination purposes. Because of our help in the past DFA interfaith relations with other Asian countries, BUC will again be the Government’s lead interfaith partner as it was with the FVR, ERAP and GMA administrations. The BSA3 administration ignored the BUC.

Mr. Almeda wondered why in the past there seemed to be no sustainability in the governments interfaith programs and activities. He asked my comment. My reply was the BUC Konsult Mindanao Findings of a regionwide survey in 2009-2010 involving 5000 people in focused group discussions which I mentioned in last week’s Shalom. They discussed why the purposes and programs of government in the areas of peace and development through interfaith dialogues could not be maintained and sustained.

We recommend to interested organizations and schools getting free copies of the KM book. They are available at the BUC office on 5th floor of Karpentrade Building, McArthur Highway, Matina, Davao City. The title is Voices, Visions and Values: The People’s Platform for Peace in Mindanao.

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