The Forgotten Approach to Peace

THE name of this approach is DUYOG RAMADHAN (Join Ramadhan). This was initiated and implemented by the Prelature of Saint Mary in Marawi City in the mid-1970s under the leadership of the late Bishop Bienvenido Tudtud. Its mother diocese, the Diocese of Iligan, under me joined in its implementation.

The approach was very simple but quite difficult. We had to fast for one month and follow the way the Muslims were doing it. We would wake up to the call to prayer at 4am, ate at the prescribed time, refrained from food and drink the whole day, study more about Islamic faith, and do some interfaith activity with our Muslim neighbors. There were only 200 Christian families in the Islamic city.

We were a small group of Duyog practitioners. In the Prelature there were 3 Columban foreign priests, 10 Filipino Carmelite nuns, and a couple of lay people aside from Bishop Tudtud. In Iligan there were many Columbans but few were involved in the ministry of dialogue, and a diocesan Filipino priest. Slowly through our parishes and through the radio station DXDD of the Diocese of Ozamis we instructed our fellow Catholics and increased our number. Later the Mindanao-Sulu Pastoral Conference and the Mindanao Clergy Convention would share our experience with the entire region.

This approach slowly minimized the spread of Islamic fundamentalism in the Islamic City of Marawi and nearby Muslim villages. Msgr. Desmond Hartford and Bishop Edwin de la Peña continued Duyog after the death of Bishop Tudtud and after my transfer to Davao.

It was an effective way because it was done in and through moments of prayer. These are moments when Muslims and Christian were on their knees humbly prostrated before the One and Only Almighty Gracious and Merciful Being whom they call Allah and God. The news of Duyog began to erase inborn anti-Christian attitudes and prejudices.

Every time we celebrated Eid’l Fit’r at the end of Ramadhan, Marawi City was in a jubilant and joyful mood basking in the bright lights and food delicacies in the thoroughfares. Qur’an reading contest and Maranao music filled the air. It’s like Christmas! (To be continued)