MANILA (UCAN) -- Leaders of an interreligious dialogue group have accepted a Catholic bishop's invitation to hold their next meeting in his war-torn area.

On June 30 in downtown Manila, the Tripartite Committee of the Bishops-Ulama (Islamic scholars) Conference (BUC) unanimously accepted an invitation from Bishop Angelito Lampon of Jolo to hold the conference's 35th general assembly this November in the town where his vicariate is based.

Jolo, capital of Sulu province, lies 950 kilometers south of Manila.

The group agreed to meet Nov. 18-20, just before the start of the region-wide "Mindanao Week of Peace" Nov. 27-Dec. 3.

The conference was formed in 1996 by Catholic bishops in Mindanao, the southern Philippine region, and the Ulama League of the Philippines. Protestant bishops joined in 1997. Muslims form 5 percent of the Philippines' 93 million population, but 20 percent of the 18 million people in Mindanao, according to the 2000 census.

Archbishop Fernando Capalla of Davao, the late Governor Mahid Mutilan of the Ulama League of the Philippines and Bishop Hilario Gomez of the National Council of Churches of the Philippines began what was first called the Bishops-Ulama Forum to promote regular Muslim-Christian dialogue at all levels of society.

The BUC has met 34 times since its founding, but never in Jolo.

Bishop Lampon told UCA News he is happy the group made this decision while fully aware that Jolo can be dangerous. "With some support from the government," he said, "we can hold a peaceful and fruitful dialogue in Jolo."

The Oblate prelate succeeded his confrere, Benjamin De Jesus, who was murdered in front of his cathedral in 1997. An Oblate priest, Father Benjamin Inocencio, was shot nearby in 2000. Father Jesus Reynaldo Roda was beaten and shot dead in 2008 in neighboring Tawi-Tawi province.

Muslims make up 97 percent of the population of the vicariate, which covers both provinces, said the bishop.

"Since the death of the Grand Imam Yakub bin Ismi (of Jolo) in 2005, we have not been able to have the kind of dialogue we had before. Our Muslim leaders are very good men, but they fear the extremists and what they would say if they entered into dialogue," he added. The grand imam was vice president of the Ulama League under Mutilan.

Hamid Barra, Muslim head of the Tripartite Committee, from Marawi City, in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, agreed to convince Muslim BUC members to stay an extra day to dialogue with Sulu and Tawi-Tawi ulama and prayer leaders. This would have more of an impact on local leaders, showing how Christian and Muslim leaders can sit down and work together, he told UCA News.

Bishop Lampon admitted "there would be many logistical problems" getting more than 100 delegates from western and central Mindanao to Jolo. The town has no hotels, he noted, "so the delegates would have to sleep in bunk beds in makeshift quarters."

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales promised to supply military airplanes to ferry the delegates from Zamboanga City, at the western tip of Mindanao Island, and one or two cities in central Mindanao, because the government is interested in the success of this meeting.

"We can make all the arrangements that are necessary and make the delegates as comfortable as possible. We can even put up a building that will remain long after the event," he told the committee at the June 30 meeting.

Bishop Lampon thanked him for his offer, but emphasized the event was a BUC event and the people must be aware it is not government-related.

The bishop wants to avoid politicizing the event. "With the latest kidnappings, people will speculate about government involvement and our impact would be diluted," he explained.

The extremist Abu Sayyaf group and the Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah have bases in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

The Abu Sayyaf are accused of the June 9 kidnapping of TV news correspondent Ces Drilon and cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, and their guide Octavio Dinampo, who were freed on June 18, reportedly after 20 million pesos (US$444,963) was paid in ransom.

BUC assemblies meet two or three times a year, while the Tripartite Committee meets every three months.

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