Two runners from Dumaguete participated and finished the Peace & Solidarity Run for Mindanao from Aug. 22 to 31. The goal: to generate support for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Mindanao.
The runners, Paultom Paras and Bernabe Bustillo representing the MetroDumaguete Roadrunners Club (MDRC)and the Dumaguete Amateur Roadrunners & Striders (DARS), were accompanied by 21 other runners from Bohol, and ran a total of 452 kilometers in 10 days.
The run was part of the Duyog Mindanao campaign of Mindanao Peaceweavers which aims to build and broaden a peace constituency of ordinary citizens especially from outside Mindanao.
The runners also collaborated with bikers from the Visayas called Bisayang Dako alang sa Kalinaw. They were also joined by five others from Davao and one from Zamboanga Sibugay. Hundreds other runners, bikers, activists, peace advocates and motorcycle enthusiasts joined them during their rests.
The first leg of the run ended in Curuan district, 48 kms from Zamboanga City. The other stop-overs included Tungawan, Kabasalan, Buug, Dumalinao, Pagadian City, Sultan Naga Dimaporo, Picong, Parang, and Cotabato City.
“We made it a point to eat our meals on time. We slept in classrooms, barangay halls, municipal halls — where we had to take-turns using the toilet-bath and to do laundry; and on our sixth day, in a hotel in Pagadian,” said Paras, technical run director.
He said they felt safe running through the towns of Mindanao because the Army, Philippine National Police, and the MILF supported the run from day one. “Prayers from Muslims and Christians alike gave us the assurance of a safe run,” Paras said. Local government units and the schools provided food and water.
“Whenever we just felt too tired to move on, the smiles from public school teachers and pupils wwaving flags of peace provided us the much-needed ‘second wind’. They were our other source of strength,” Paras said.
Paras told the MetroPost the importance of running with an advocacy in mind. “Without an advocacy, you wouldn’t even want to finish the run.”
He said the peace run challenged him as a runner and a self-confessed peace advocate. “I hope we were able to send the message that even people from the Visayas want peace in Mindanao.”(Liam Vrent Lumogdang/SU Masscom)