Tabuk City, Kalinga - People who want to remember their relatives and friends who lost their Lives through tribal and” criminal violence in the province now have a place to go aside from the individual graves of the victims.
Called the Peace Memorial Shrine, the landmark which is located at the Roman Catholic Pastoral Center in Bulanao, this city, is a 20-foot edifice consisting of two hands one of which holds a cross and the other reaching for a dove with a gong hanging from its beak.
A granite marker at the base of the statue is inscribed with the names of the four Roman Catholic priests who were killed in the province and the words “and all victims of tribal and criminal violence. May the blood they shed be the seed of lasting peace in Kalinga.”
Forming the background of the statue are two oval-shaped panels. In between the two panels is a flat panel inscribed with the text of Luke 6:29 - “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.”
Beside the central panel is a fountain of jars.
During the inauguration of the landmark on March 15, Bishop Prudencio Andaya, Jr. of the Vicariate of Tabuk, said that the two hands symbolize the aspiration of the people of Kalinga for peace and reconciliation, the cross is an emblem of God’s infinite love and compassion and of Jesus who offered Himself for the salvation of mankind, the dove, peace and the gong speaks of the cultural practice whereby people can only dance when peace exists.
Andaya said that when funds are available, the names of all the victims shall be engraved in bronze crosses on the background panels.
The shrine is a physical symbol of the peace movement being spearheaded by the Peacemakers’ involvement, a group of aggrieved families united by their renunciation of vengeance and the yearning and commitment to work for lasting peace in the province.
Andaya informed during the inauguration that on March 14, the existence of the Peacemakers’ Movement has been formalized through the formulation of their vision-mission and the formation of their organization structure.
The vision mission of the movement is as follows: “We envision a dynamic, Christ-centered organization committed to justice and peace whose members are imbued with integrity as instruments of healing and reconciliation to build a peaceful Kalinga.”
The inauguration of the shrine brought together relatives of victims of violence including Governor Floydelia Diasen, Tabuk City Mayor Camilo Lammawin, Jr. and Jane Claver, wife of former Kalinga Congressman William Claver.
Diasen’s husband, then Vice Governor Rommel Diasen, was gunned down on April 7, 2007, Lammawin’s brother, Judge Milnar Lammawin, was murdered on August.9, 2004 and a son of the Clavers was also lost in a violent incident sometime in the 1990s.
In her extemporaneous and emotional speech, the governor spoke of the pain and anguish of losing her husband, the necessity of moving on after the tragedy, God’s constant love and care, and her hope that one day the province will finally find lasting peace.
The governor said that in the midst of her effort to come to terms with the loss and move one, there is the nagging pain about finding justice for her husband even as she asked all the aggrieved people present to pray for justice “for the death of our loved ones, specially death that we could not explain.”
Commenting on the Biblical passage on the background of the edifice, the governor said: “I am trying to find the logic of this but then our enemies are also God’s people. And so I think that if we are able to find a place for our enemies in our hearts, then we can find peace. Let us hope that as we love our enemies, we could build a peaceful community especially in Tabuk.”
She called the acceptance of the loss of a loved one without bitterness the first step in attaining peace.
Earlier in the program, Lilia Langbayan, whose testimony had inspired Andaya to initiate the formation of the Peacemakers’ Movement in 2004, shared her experience following the murder of her son, Bernard Vincent, a new engineer.
She said that she went thrice to Piat, Cagayan to pray to the Virgin Mary for strength and guidance after which she was led to entrust her burden to the mercy of God for the acceptance of the life of her son and likewise the healing of the one who committed the crime. ** By Estanislao Albano , Jr.
Called the Peace Memorial Shrine, the landmark which is located at the Roman Catholic Pastoral Center in Bulanao, this city, is a 20-foot edifice consisting of two hands one of which holds a cross and the other reaching for a dove with a gong hanging from its beak.
A granite marker at the base of the statue is inscribed with the names of the four Roman Catholic priests who were killed in the province and the words “and all victims of tribal and criminal violence. May the blood they shed be the seed of lasting peace in Kalinga.”
Forming the background of the statue are two oval-shaped panels. In between the two panels is a flat panel inscribed with the text of Luke 6:29 - “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.”
Beside the central panel is a fountain of jars.
During the inauguration of the landmark on March 15, Bishop Prudencio Andaya, Jr. of the Vicariate of Tabuk, said that the two hands symbolize the aspiration of the people of Kalinga for peace and reconciliation, the cross is an emblem of God’s infinite love and compassion and of Jesus who offered Himself for the salvation of mankind, the dove, peace and the gong speaks of the cultural practice whereby people can only dance when peace exists.
Andaya said that when funds are available, the names of all the victims shall be engraved in bronze crosses on the background panels.
The shrine is a physical symbol of the peace movement being spearheaded by the Peacemakers’ involvement, a group of aggrieved families united by their renunciation of vengeance and the yearning and commitment to work for lasting peace in the province.
Andaya informed during the inauguration that on March 14, the existence of the Peacemakers’ Movement has been formalized through the formulation of their vision-mission and the formation of their organization structure.
The vision mission of the movement is as follows: “We envision a dynamic, Christ-centered organization committed to justice and peace whose members are imbued with integrity as instruments of healing and reconciliation to build a peaceful Kalinga.”
The inauguration of the shrine brought together relatives of victims of violence including Governor Floydelia Diasen, Tabuk City Mayor Camilo Lammawin, Jr. and Jane Claver, wife of former Kalinga Congressman William Claver.
Diasen’s husband, then Vice Governor Rommel Diasen, was gunned down on April 7, 2007, Lammawin’s brother, Judge Milnar Lammawin, was murdered on August.9, 2004 and a son of the Clavers was also lost in a violent incident sometime in the 1990s.
In her extemporaneous and emotional speech, the governor spoke of the pain and anguish of losing her husband, the necessity of moving on after the tragedy, God’s constant love and care, and her hope that one day the province will finally find lasting peace.
The governor said that in the midst of her effort to come to terms with the loss and move one, there is the nagging pain about finding justice for her husband even as she asked all the aggrieved people present to pray for justice “for the death of our loved ones, specially death that we could not explain.”
Commenting on the Biblical passage on the background of the edifice, the governor said: “I am trying to find the logic of this but then our enemies are also God’s people. And so I think that if we are able to find a place for our enemies in our hearts, then we can find peace. Let us hope that as we love our enemies, we could build a peaceful community especially in Tabuk.”
She called the acceptance of the loss of a loved one without bitterness the first step in attaining peace.
Earlier in the program, Lilia Langbayan, whose testimony had inspired Andaya to initiate the formation of the Peacemakers’ Movement in 2004, shared her experience following the murder of her son, Bernard Vincent, a new engineer.
She said that she went thrice to Piat, Cagayan to pray to the Virgin Mary for strength and guidance after which she was led to entrust her burden to the mercy of God for the acceptance of the life of her son and likewise the healing of the one who committed the crime. ** By Estanislao Albano , Jr.
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