A beautiful Peace Day celebration took place in Metro Manila yesterday morning -September 21, by the Peace Bell area at the Quezon Memorial Circle with the presence of several prominent personalities including the Vice Mayor of Quezon City, an Undersecretary from Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP), UNDP Country Director and representatives from various civil society, faith groups and the academe. It was wonderful to see so many youths in the gathering and also actively participating in the program. Congratulations to GenPeace for spearheading the celebrations!
The festivities opened with the ribbon cutting ceremony performed by the Vice Mayor Ms. Joyce Belmonte and Under Secretary Romulo Halabaso from OPAPP, to declare open the Exhibition/Booths set up by various participating organizations.
The Peacemakers’ Circle led the interfaith Prayers. The opening address by the Vice Mayor was very supportive of the celebrations and the significance of the day for peace in the country. She announced that a “green building” will be rising in the Park in the near future which will serve as a showcase of cultures in the country and invited us to hold next year’s IDP celebration there. The message of the UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon was read by Mr. Renaud Meyer of UNDP.
Shakuntala Vaswani the SEAPAC Regional Coordinator took the opportunity to introduce the Golden Rule as a means to promote mutual respect and to achieve peaceful coexistence and solidarity among different faiths and cultures. She presented a framed Golden Rule poster to the vice Mayor Ms. Joy Belmonte.
The program included messages the presentation of a Peace Pole from the World Peace Prayer Society Japan to the President of the Philippines (received on his behalf by Mr. Halabaso from OPAPP) sharings the war evacuees from Mindanao and solidarity messages from various concerned organizations. The song and dance presentations from various groups were entertaining as well as inspiring. A minute of silence was observed at mid-day to reflect on and pray for Peace.
The festivities ended with sharing of potluck foods brought by the different organizations. It was a perfect sunny morning for the occasion but within a short time of the conclusion of the festivities the skies opened up and there was a great downpour of rain, as if in blessing!
MAY PEACE PREVAIL IN THE PHILIPPINES!
MAY PEACE PREVAIL IN SEAPAC REGION
MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON EARTH!
