[HWPL] Mindanao Civil Peace Agreement - True Story of HWPL's Chairman Man Hee Lee

 [HWPL]

[HWPL] Mindanao Peace Agreement - True Story of HWPL's Chairman Man Hee Lee

2nd annual commemoration of the Declaration of World Peace on May 25th 2015.

[Cheonji Daily = Reporter Tae-Bok Song] "If peace comes to Mindanao, world peace will come too."

These were the words spoken by people around the world watching the land of death, where more than 120,000 people died in a bloody 40-year conflict. Everyone considered peace in Mindanao an impossibility.

Peace agreements between the government and rebels had been signed several times, but they failed and people aimed their guns at each other again. As such, over 40 years passed, the “gun” was regarded as a means of peace to the residents.

However, a surprising thing happened to local residents, who had been aiming their guns at one another since 2014:  a life of conflict changed into one of peace. At the root of this miracle is the Korean peace activist Man-hee Lee, who is the chairman of HWPL (Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light).

Chairman Man-hee Lee has been on world peace tours since 2012 after receiving the command to "Cease Wars and Achieve World Peace!" Catholic Archbishop Antonio Ledesma Cagayan de Oro, whom he met in the Philippines in September 2013, asked Chairman Lee to end the conflict in Mindanao. At that time, Mindanao was a battleground with ongoing bloody disputes and going to Mindanao would be life-threatening.

In January of the following year, at the age of 84, Chairman Lee visited the bloody battlefield, where bullets poured down, with the sole mission of securing 'peace'. Chairman Lee said, “As a fellow peace compatriot, I couldn't refuse his plea to go there for peace. I believed that God would be with me and so I headed to Mindanao.”

After visiting Mindanao, the process involved a series of miracles that were hard to believe in with human logic. Chairman Lee, who recognized that the root of the Mindanao conflict was a Catholic-Islamic dispute, held a peace walk with 1,000 people - including students from Mindanao State University and members of international youth organisations - for the first time in General Santos city, Philippines on January 24, 2014.

Chairman Man Hee Lee of HWPL and representatives of the Catholic and Islamic faiths on January 24th in 2014, right after signing the civil peace agreement.

After the peace walk, Chairman Lee emphasized the need for peace to the leaders of government and civil society organizations, youth organizations, and university professors gathered at General Santos Hotel.

Chairman Lee strongly criticized acts that promote conflict under the guise of religion, and stressed that "the will of the Creator is for peace, not war." He then asked the attendees whether they desired peace or war and to raise their hands if they wanted peace. When all the participants raised their hands, Chairman Man Hee Lee summoned Catholic and Islamic representatives who attended the event, saying, "Then sign the peace agreement."

The immediate peace agreement was attended by former Archbishop Fernando Capella and the Governor of Mindanao Magindanao. Both sides signed an agreement to cease conflict and achieve peace.

This was the prelude to the end of this bloody conflict in Mindanao, which neither the president of the Philippines, nor the law, nor the Pope could resolve. The site of the peace agreement was reported through the Philippine national broadcaster PTV and private broadcasters. After hearing the news of the peace agreement, former Philippine president Ramos met Chairman Lee and said, "He did something I couldn't do".

Upon hearing news of the Mindanao Civil Peace Agreement, the government forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) agreed on the final draft of the Preliminary Peace Agreement on January 25, the very next day. The agreement was evaluated as the greatest progress made in the negotiation process between the two sides over the last 18 years, as it recognized Muslim autonomy in the Bangsamoro region in southern Mindanao and gradually disarmed the MILF.

In May of that year, the so-called Bangsamoro Basic Law entered legislative proceedings in the Philippines Parliament, and in August 2018, President Duterte signed the bill, bringing the civil war in Mindanao to a complete end. The Mindanao Civil Peace Agreement, which was implemented through the mediation of Chairman Man Hee Lee, was made reality.

In January 2014, Philippine PTV reporter Elizabeth Kachin, who delivered the news of the Mindanao Civil Peace Agreement, which was negotiated through the mediation of Chairman Man-Hee Lee, highlighted Chairman Lee's ‘sincerity for peace’ as the driver behind these dramatic achievements of peace.

Reporter Kachin said, “Chairman Man-Hee Lee was different from other politicians. Chairman Lee said, 'I came a long way to Mindanao, where bullets poured down, for peace only.' The residents of Mindanao, tired of the dispute, quickly recognized the difference between a politician and Chairman Lee. Lee's sincerity for “peace” moved them, a peace agreement could be done because of Chairman Man-Hee Lee and HWPL.”

The Philippine media reported, “There have been numerous peace treaties that agreed to end the war, but there have always been other disputes. Many peace activists worked to solve this but it was the HWPL who headquartered in Korea that produced real fruit.”

The difference is that the government-led political peace agreement came to nothing due to the residents' opposition, while the civil peace agreement led by Chairman Man-Hee Lee successfully concluded with the support of residents and with minimal resistance. After the agreement, locals began to experience the miracle of walking together speaking of peace.

Al Haz Murad Ibrahim, Chairman of the MILF, who attended the 1st anniversary of the World Peace Summit by HWPL in September 2015, said, “I heard the news of the peace agreement between Islamic-Catholic leaders that Chairman Man-Hee Lee made through Governor of Mindanao Magindanao. We had been negotiating with the government for 18 years, but we were unable to reach a conclusion. In January 2014, the civil peace agreement between Islamic-Catholic leaders in Mindanao Magindanao by Chairman Man-Hee Lee in January 2014 actually helped the MILF and the Philippines government to achieve an official agreement. Many people don't believe this, but it's true."

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Soldiers and citizens of the MILF welcome Chairman Man Hee Lee who visited the MILF's region on January 24th in 2016.

In May 2015, the state of Mindanao Magindanao built the “HWPL Peace Monument” to commemorate Chairman Lee’s achievements for peace. At the site, a large number of key figures and local representatives who attended the peace talks representing the government and rebels for peace, pledged to make efforts to maintain and develop peace in Mindanao. In addition, January 24th was designated as "HWPL Day" as it is the day when the Mindanao Civil Peace Agreement concluded, and an event was held to commemorate the “day of liberation from war by peace". On that day, Catholic and Islamic leaders promised, "we will never have religious disputes in front of God and all the people of the world again" and "we will be messengers of peace with HWPL."

In January 2016, on the 2nd anniversary of the Mindanao Civil Peace Agreement, the “HWPL Peace Monument” was also erected in Mindanao Sultan Kudarat, where the MILF is stationed, to publicly  formalize the achievement of peace in Mindanao by HWPL. Chairman Man Hee Lee, who visited the MILF region to attend the unveiling ceremony of the Peace Monument, was enthusiastically welcomed by the MILF's residents. The long lines of welcoming crowds showed how much Mindanao residents looked forward to “peace”.

On the morning of Sunday, October 7th in 2018, SBS’ (one of the major broadcasting companies in Korea) documentary team reported from Mindanao, which had become a place of peace following the signing of the peace agreement through Chairman Man-Hee Lee in 2014, through its documentary ‘Peace is far off, but a path that must be taken’ Locals who thought, 'we thought guns would bring peace', were enjoying a peaceful daily life without guns. They had recovered from the severe pain of suddenly losing their loved ones.

In January 2014, 84-year-old Korean peace activist Chairman Man-Hee Lee visited Mindanao risking his life only for “peace,” and God gifted them with "peace". This may have been because God, who has the power to achieve peace, was with Chairman Lee.

On January 24th 2016, the 'Unveiling ceremony of HWPL Peace Monument' was held at the MILF's post in Sultan Kudarat of Mindanao in the Philippines to celebrate 'the 2nd anniversary of the Mindanao Civil Peace Agreement'.

Peace!