30 January 2015
NO PEACE WITHOUT JUSTICE
Forty-four brave FILIPINOS of the PNP-SAF have fallen to defend our people from global terrorism. We are forever grateful for their heroic sacrifice as we condole with their families that they left behind.
The people welcomed them at Villamor Air Base where a week earlier Filipinos welcomed Pope Francis. Like the Pope's pastoral visit their death has given life to every Filipino to define our identity as people who are willing to offer our lives PRO DEO ET PATRIA—for God and Country.
The Pamantasan Lungsod ng Maynila will continue to support PEACE through the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law to end the four-decades of conflict between our government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
We want PEACE but there must be JUSTICE. As both the Aquino Administration and the MILF probe the events of that fateful Sunday, let us be VIGILANT. No government official nor the MILF escape culpability if they are responsible for the death of the 44. This is an opportune time for the MILF to demonstrate its sincerity in the peace agreement.
For Muslims and Christians, PEACE is both GOD's Gift and Human Task. For Filipinos, it has shed so much blood. May the blood of the 44 be our nation's turning point, our conversion as a people.