Grassroots communities weaving a path for JustPeace amidst challenges

The Bal'ian leading the agong players and the delegates
for the closing ritual.

Six (6) T’duray women, one of the more than twenty groups of Indigenous Peoples in Mindanao, with their colorful traditional dress shook my hand vigorously and a couple embraced me tightly as they arrived at the Upi Agricultural School, the venue of the 6^th Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Summit. Tired from the long habal-habal (motorcycle vehicles) travel and some trekking from the interior communities of South Upi, these women were still all smiles as they proudly showed off their agong (an indigenous musical instrument) to me. They were part of the one hundred twenty-five (125) women delegates out of the three hundred ninety-three (393) total participants to the sixth Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Summit last December 12-16,2010 in Upi,Maguindanao, Mindanao,Philippines. They were the agong players that accompany the Bal’ian (spiritual leader) in the opening and closing rituals.

Now on its 10^th year, the Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Movement (MPPM) had been launching biennial summits that serve as a General Assembly of this grassroots tri-people movement as each one renews and affirms their commitment to peacebuilding. The peace summit is anchored on the theme: “Weaving the Path towards JustPeace in tri-people communities” as the summits also serve as celebration of the peace initiatives in the communities, venue for discussion of issues such as on the peace processes and other relevant issues that affects the daily lives of the grassroots tri-people ( of the Bangsamoro, Katawhang Lumad or Indigenous Peoples and the Mindanao Migrants and their Descendants).

For the past three summits, thematic workshops were organized to allow the delegates to participate in discussions that they felt more relevant to their context. This year’s offering were as follows: Migration and Development ; Women. Peace & Security; Engaging men in Gender Justice and Peacebuilding; Climate Justice; Foreign Military Presence: It’s Implication to the Peace and Security of Mindanao; Food Sovereignty and Land Grabbing; and Youth and Peacebuilding.

Focusing on Indigenous Peoples

Rep. Teddy Baguilat, Jr, an Ifugao leader and current Chair of the 
National Cultural
Communities Keynote the summit.

The Indigenous Peoples’ issues were given more emphasis in this summit as MPPM’s consistent commitment to uphold and promote the right to self-determination of peoples. For this, the invited keynote speaker was the Chairperson of the Committee on Cultural Communities of the House of Representatives, Representative Teodoro Baguilat, Jr. In the Conversations with the Keynote Speaker, various issues of the Indigenous Peoples poured out especially on the conflicting laws governing the Indigenous People and that of the Mining Act that put their ancestral domains under the mercy of mining companies and other development aggression activities.  Meanwhile, on the peace and security aspect, issues of harassments and the indigenous peoples communities being collateral damage to the insurgency campaign of the government against the New people’ Army of the Communist Party of the Philippines and other armed groups were of the topmost concern.

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo on the
 CPP/NPA/NDF-GRP Peace talks.

The intense and passionate exchange continued during the Updates on the Peace Processes when the former Chairman of the National Democratic Front Peace Panel Satur Ocampo gave updates on the Government of the Republic of the Philippines- Communist Party of the Philippines/New Peoples Army/ National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF) peace talks. This is because many indigenous peoples were recruited by the CPP/NPA/NDF especially during the Martial Law period. Many of these recruits have left the movement and had gone back to their communities but are still regarded by the military as communist rebels. On the other hand, the communist rebels regarded the defectors as deep penetrating agents. These leave the Indigenous Peoples vulnerable to attacks from both the military and rebel groups.

For a long time, the indigenous peoples in the communities have been looking for a venue to air their concerns and the summit finally gave them that. However, the issues were numerous; thus, one of the resolutions was to continue the open discourse between the rebel groups and the government, possibly in a forum solely called for the purpose.

A Peoples’ Summit of Issues and Actions

Giving voice to the grassroots, three major themes focusing on the situation of the tri-peoples of Mindanao and their peace perspectives were one of the main highlights of the summit. These were deepened in the thematic workshops where the people’s organizations and NGOs members of MPPM served as the facilitators. Issues and resolutions for concrete actions were laid down in these fora.

The highly attended thematic workshops were the Women, Peace and Security; Food Sovereignty and Land Grabbing; Climate Justice; Youth and Peacebuilding; and Engaging Men in Gender and Peacebuilding. The other workshops were equally lively and educational.

The Women,Peace & Security workshop facilitated by MTWRC.

In a society where patriarchy and feudalism still very much evident, some local cultures still delegate the women to the household, making the struggle for women’s participation at all levels in peacebuilding remain a challenge. While MPPM strives to strike a balance between genders and to give equal opportunity to women in terms of representation to the officers and its leadership, the communities where the membership came from were biased on men as their leaders. In the roster of Bangsamoro and Katawhang Lumad council, women consist a quarter only of their leaders. Though some communities have active women leaders, these are overshadowed in other communities. There was even a case where their male counterparts undermined the capacity of women to represent their tribes despite the rising and active involvement of women in many peacebuilding initiatives of the peace movement. However, it was evident that women will no longer tolerate to playing second fiddle to their male counterparts. During the 1^st Council Meeting after the Summit, the women of the Maguindanao tribe (one of the 13 Islamized ethno-lingusitic tribes of the Bangsamoro) wrote a strongly worded position paper challenging the new leadership of MPPM to address these issues of male chauvinism within the considered progressive ranks of the peace movement. To them, it is not a matter of competition but rather to be treated with dignity and respect as human beings and given the equal opportunity to become leaders.

This attitude of male dominance and patronizing women still came out in the workshop of Engaging Men in Gender Justice and Peacebuilding where many of the male delegates have the stereotypical view of women as merely homemakers. Some were even quick to point out that it’s not easy to challenge traditional practices which have become the norms in certain communities. They reflected that changing attitudes, behaviors and mindsets take a long time but with efforts already underway, these could bear fruit in the future.

The facilitator of the workshop, Mr. Valtimore Fenis, a council member of MPPM, who was sent on a training with the Women PeaceMakers Program on Engendering Men for Gender Sensitive Non-Violence was in a reflective mood after the workshop. The women activists from the Mindanao Tri-People Women Resource Center who facilitated in the Women, Peace and Security workshop, joined him, where some men participated, was also overwhelmed with the issues besetting the grassroots tri-people women but at the same time buoyed with the initiatives taken by the women in their communities.

“Generation Gap”

The young people discussing their role in peacebuilding.

There are also the issue of the young people who are very vocal and articulate with their issues and positions. Dynamic as they are, they are the ones that challenges old notions, old practices that were deemed right for being followed for a long time. They put the older generation in the defensive; in looking into their inner self-if they have been complacent in exercising their authority in an arbitrary manner, being the older generations deserving respect. Interestingly, the youth of this generation is very vigilant and active. They will demand for change if they felt there is something wrong in the status quo.  Take this from the ongoing peoples’ revolts in the Arab world lead by the young generation.

In introspection, the Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Movement is a microcosm of the wider Mindanao society. It’s membership is as diverse as the tri-people which composed the grassroots communities of Mindanao. The issues, interests and positions of individuals, clans and groups on certain matters are contextual product of its colonial past, inherited stereotypes, biases and animosities.  Yet, it is also a story of diverse peoples with different set of beliefs, cultures and way of life that consciously struggles to work and stay together amidst these diversities to effect change in their lives.  The 6^th Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Summit was just a manifestation of its dynamism, of that journeying together, by weaving together a path towards that justpeace in their communities.

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The author is the former Secretary General of the Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Movement (MPPM), an alliance/network and coalition of peoples’ organizations and peace and human rights groups advancing the participation and engagement of the grassroots’ tri-peoples (Katawhang Lumad, Katawhang Migrante and Bangsamoro) in building peace in conflict-torn Mindanao. She wrote this piece for the “Cross the Lines”, the official publication of the Women Peace Makers Program.