A senior official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Wednesday called on the Catholic Church to help the government unite the people behind efforts to bring peace to Mindanao.

Ghadzali Jafaar, MILF vice chairman for political affairs, said the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which is pending in Congress, was a first step to unity and it could make combatants “drop their guns in exchange for shovels, tractors for cannons, fertilizers for bombs and seedlings for bullets.”