ARMM athletes join Palarong Pambansa for sports and for peace

COTABATO CITY -- Athletes from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) are taking advantage of the on-going Palarong Pambansa in Legazpi City to show they are not just for sports, but are peace activists as well.The Palarong Pambansa, which started early this week, involves delegates from more than a dozen regions across the country.John Magno, regional secretary of ARMM’s Department of Education, said their delegation is partly focused on exemplifying how local Muslim, Christian and Lumad teammates can co-exist, contrary to notions that there are religious and customary animosities among them. Our athletes get regular classroom instructions on peace education and subjects meant to propagate `culture of peace’ and one way of inculcating among them the value of teamwork is through sports,” Magno said.He said their participation to national sports and academic activities is two pronged, to show that elementary pupils and high school students in the ARMM are also as competitive and, most importantly, contributes to efforts of promoting interfaith solidarity local communities. To bring home awards is important, always an ambition, but to show to athletes from Luzon, Visayas and the National Capital Region that we from ARMM are peace-loving is more important,” Magno said.So unique is the ARMM’s education department that it has a Madaris Education Bureau, which has moderate Islamic missionaries teaching children the values of respect for other religions and unity in religious commonalities. It is also nice to see our Muslim, Christian and Lumad athletes stay together for days, discuss game plans as teams,” Magno said.