ZAMBOANGA CITY – Mindanao’s lasting peace and development could only be attained only when Christians and Muslims would work together and have a common agenda for peace and unity.

This was emphasized by Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) president Adel Tamano during his recent address before students of the Western Mindanao State University (WMSU) here.

Tamano, son of the late Lanao del Sur Senator Mamintal Tamano, urged the WMSU students – many of whom come from Zamboanga Peninsula and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi – to use their knowledge and skills as catalysts for development and lasting peace in the Southern Philippines which has been rocked for the past decades by armed conflicts between government troops and members of rebel groups including the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), Abu Sayyaf and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

“We can never attain peace and progress in our region without us, Muslims and Christians, holding hands together,” Tamano told the students.

He said that history has bound Muslims and Christians, especially now when many Moros – mostly traders – have dispersed themselves throughout the country’s major urban centers like Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog, and the cities of Baguio, Cebu, Bacolod, and Tacloban.

“Since we cannot escape each other, we might as well work and live in harmony together to ensure lasting solution to war and underdevelopment in Mindanao, the second biggest island region in the country,” the Maranao prominent lawyer said.

Tamano cited his life story to concretize the idea that success is possible if Muslims and Christians would embrace each other.