Kababaihan at Kapayapaan Issue No. 3

Issue No.
March 2015
Contents
Editorial Board
Chair
Sec. Teresita Quintos Deles

Usec. Ma. Cleofe Sandoval
Pennie Azarcon dela Cruz
Jurgette Honculada
Paulynn Paredes Sicam
10
32
Editorial Staff
Editor
Paulynn Paredes Sicam
Staff
FROM THE PUBLISHER
18
Quote Unquote
In pursuit of peace, truth

and justice...
By SEC. TERESITA QUINTOS DELES
20
Women at the Forefront:

Championing peace
against all odds
By POLLY CUNANAN
The Road Out of

Mamasapano:
In Maguindanao,
gender empowerment
is key to peace
By JURGETTE HONCULADA
9
10
13
14
Gender in the peace process

By SOCORRO REYES
PHOTO ESSAY
Saving the BBL: Citizens
rally for all-out peace
By KRIS LANOT LACABA
27
REFLECTION
The bigotry of power
By JENNIFER SANTIAGO ORETA
28
Michelle Bonto:
The warden is a teacher
By MICHELLE ANN RAMIREZ
32
Women forge on, echoing

the call for peace
By ANA NATIVIDAD
Zenonida Brosas and
Cecilia Jimenez:
Deepening the peace
By JENNIFER SANTOS and
JURGETTE HONCULADA
Field Notes from the North:

Journeying with CPLA
women integrees
By MA. LOURDES VENERACIONRALLONZA
36
PEACE TABLE UPDATES
39
NEWS BRIEFS
41
PEACE CALENDAR
Jurgette Honculada
Kris Lanot Lacaba
Melisa Yubokmee
Photographers
Joser Dumbrique
Kris Lanot Lacaba
Larry Madarang
Layout Artist
Mai Ylagan
KABABAIHANat
KAPAYAPAAN
This magazine is published bi-annually by
the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the
Peace Process
Address
7th Floor, Agustin 1 Bldg.
F. Ortigas Jr. Road
Ortigas Center, Pasig City
Telephone
+632 636 0701 to 07
Fax
+632 638 2216
Website
www.opapp.gov.ph
Connect with us!
peace.opapp
@OPAPP_peace
peaceopapp
feedback@opapp.net
ON THE COVER: A collage of photos shows the passion and commitment of Filipinos from all walks of life calling for an
end to violence and a regime of peace in war-torn Muslim Mindanao with the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law.
Photos by Joser Dumbrique and Kris Lanot Lacaba. Cover design by Mai Ylagan.
FROM THE PUBLISHER

IT IS GOOD TO KNOW THE TRUTH BUT IT IS BETTER TO SPEAK
OF PALM TREES.
The depth and paradox of that Arab saying come to mind as I pen a message for
Kababaihan at Kapayapaan.
Lent came early to Mamasapano in Maguindanao this year, with the death
of 67 commandos, combatants, civilians, driving the peace process between
government and the MILF into a wilderness that would daunt the most stouthearted of peace advocates. Whereof comes this wilderness? To my mind it
springs from three divides, faultlines, if you will: them vs. us, north vs.
south, and CSOs vs. other groups.
Them vs. us bespeaks a deep-seated dualism cemented by culture and
history. It relates to the Crusades in Europe that waged war against the Moors
(Moros). Spanish colonial Catholicism then painted Muslims as the other, the
heathen, the infidel. That this dualism is bred into our psyche recently came to
light: Muslims are traitors, the MILF cannot be trusted. And the unspoken: Let
the BBL pay the price.
The second divide is north vs. south: Divide and conquer. Spanish colonizers pitted local chieftains against one another
(e.g. the Battle of Mactan for which we immortalize the fearless Lapu-Lapu with a fish and in a song). The north-south
divide has ramified over time, taking root in the most unlikely places, as in Mindanao and Cebu joining forces, in NGO
assemblies, against imperial Manila. In the furor ensuing over Mamasapano, wars alarms ring loudest in the safe
confines of Congress, for instance. But close to Ground Zero, the people flee even as they cry out for peace.
Other sectors in Mindanao seek peace as well: the religious both Christian and Muslim, business both big and micro,
the academe. And rightly so, because Mindanao bears the brunt of the fighting, although the entire country must pay the
price of war.
The third faultline overlaps with the second: CSOs-NGOs (especially the peace constituencies) vs. other groups. Three
decades of sustained peace building have grown robust support for the peace processes in country. Yet in press, broadcast
and social media, we hear calls that range from No more BBL, No more peace talks with MILF, to Freeze the BBL
hearings. The subtext is: Let us not sell the country short, let us not be hoodwinked by the MILF.
But the fact is that the current GPH-MILF peace process, now running five years, has been transparent from Day One.
Portraying the MILF as villains and the GPH panel and peace adviser as MILF lackeys does this sum up the truth of five
years of hard negotiations? Or has Mamasapano become grist for the political mill, a pawn in realpolitik, with interested
parties coaxing the truth in certain directions to lead to certain narrow conclusions?
It is good to know the truth but it is better to speak of palm trees.
Let not a narrow reading of Mamasapano dictate the narrative of peace in Mindanao, and in the entire country. For peace
and violence have a back story that goes back millennia; it counts the cost in rivers of blood and generations of stunted
children. Let not the faultlines forever condemn our country to brother killing brother, sister killing sister. Let not those
who have not known grief and pain perorate about war and violence.
We must speak of the dead and injured, dislocation and despoliation, on both sides. But truth is not only about death.
Truth is about life, about palm trees, about our childrens future. This, I daresay, is what peace is all about.
Then, and only then, can we find our way out of the wilderness.
TERESITA QUINTOS DELES
March 2015
KABABAIHANatKAPAYAPAAN
In pursuit of peace,
truth and justice...
SEC. TERESITA QUINTOS DELES
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
Keynote Address, Bangsamoro Peace Forum
Ateneo de Manila University
February 26, 2015
A MONTH AGO YESTERDAY, all hell broke loose at Mamasapano in Maguindanao and, with it, the hopes we
were nurturing for the timely passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law that would conclusively shift the MILF struggle
from armed to electoral, from violent to peaceful. Or so it seems.
Are we now consigned to picking up the bits and pieces of a Humpty Dumpty of a BBL; or are we tasked to do
something else? I think you and I are on the same page when you call this afternoons activity a forum on the
Bangsamoro in pursuit of peace, truth and justice. For the forcible deconstruction triggered by Mamasapano
compels us to a reconstruction, a recovery, a rethinking that must go deep and far and wide if we are to do justice
to truth and the pursuit of peace.
Amidst the din and frenzy, the death and despair, the grieving and recriminations, we must go deep into a space
within ourselvesas individuals, as communities, and as a people, and face up to certain hard questions. We may not
have all the answers, but, as the poet Rilke says, sometimes the questions are more important than the answers.
I propose three questions:
First, what happened at Mamasapano and how do we make sense of it? Second, how has the fall-out from
Mamasapano impacted on the GPH-MILF peace process and what are our stakes in it? Third, given the saber-rattling
and name calling, what is to be done?
As we tackle these questions, may I further propose two guideposts? Embrace history as our guide. Avoid dualism.
First: What happened at Mamasapano and how do we make sense of it?
By now we have a clearer picture of what happened during that longest dawn and day and night at Mamasapano. We
have the cold statistic of 67 deaths, not just 44, of police commandos and Muslim combatants and civilians including
an eight-year-old child. Several bodies are probing the why and the whereforewhy things went terribly wrong, and
who are called to account.
2
March 2015
The details, and the accountabilities, I leave to the investigating bodies. My concern here is the question: how do we
make sense of it? And here we must take the long view, a deep breath, and reach far back into our common history to
begin to make sense of the carnage at Mamasapano.
The Statement from Mindanao, issued 15 days ago by religious leaders led by Cardinal Orlando Quevedo of the
Archdiocese of Cotabato and joined by Jesuit presidents of Ateneo universities in Mindanao, rightly says that no
one has a monopoly on guilt or on righteousness. The statement reminds us that for 300 years, a proud Moro people
stood up to Spain, the United States, and a succession of Philippine governments, colonial and republican, to defend
their sovereignty and claim their homeland. They paid the price in blood the massacres of Bud Dajo, Bud Bagsak,
and Jabidah. In the end they, and the lumads, the indigenous peoples, are pushed to the margins by the guns of Pax
Americana, the waves of migration from the north and central islands, and the shrewdness of a Torrens title.
The past 45 years of intermittent warfare in Mindanao have claimed the lives of at least 150,000 combatants and
civilians. This has led to the mutual insight that guns, violence and wars only fuel the need for more guns, violence
and wars in a macabre death dance with no end in sight but the end. It has been said that peace is the only way to
peace. Proof of this is that, in the past three years, the ceasefire between the government and the MILF has held
without a single skirmish and this is by the accounting not of OPAPP and the negotiating panel but of the Armed
Forces of the Philippines.
The bloodbath at Mamasapano does not debunk the imperative of peace. On the contrary, Mamasapano tells us and
may I paraphrase the poet e.e. cummings here that, of peace, we must be more careful than of anything else. It is a
beacon but it is also a fragile flower. It lives in the hearts of men and women but, stunted, it can also turn toxic.
We must make sense of Mamasapano by learning the lessons of history; and by keeping our ears close to the ground.
Wars alarms ring in the halls of Congress and in social media but not in the blood-drenched fields of Maguindanao
where people, and children most of all, pay the price of the conflict.
Second: How has the fall-out from Mamasapano impacted on the GPH-MILF peace process and what are our
stakes in it?
It has been said that the BBL is as much a casualty of Mamasapano as the fallen 67. True, two legislators have
withdrawn sponsorship of the proposed BBL. True, the MILF is being faulted for, demonized even, for breaking the
peace. And our peace negotiators, myself included, have been criticized for speaking in behalf of MILF.
More specifically, some lawmakers have called for the resignation of GPH Panel Chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, GPHCCCH Chair Brig. Gen. Carlito Galvez, and myself. These legislators have charged us with being spokespersons, even
lawyering for, MILF. They have called the BBL a sell-out for being one-sided and favoring MILF.
But what is the truth? The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro or CAB, precursor to the BBL, was
painstakingly crafted over three years of hard negotiations with the MILF, and the fact that, more than once,
negotiations nearly broke down is a testament to the integrity of the process. The four annexes to the Framework
Agreement on the Bangsamoro or FAB, signed by the parties in September, 2012, took 16 months to complete, 13
months beyond the timetable projected in the FAB, precisely because negotiating positions were so difficult to bridge.
On the side of government, the most contentious issues were first threshed out with the concerned national agencies
in discussions which sometimes seemed as difficult as the negotiations with the MILF. After each negotiation round in
Kuala Lumpur, the GPH panel and myself, briefed the designated peace observers from the House of Representatives,
as well as key members of the Senate peace committee, on the progress of the talks. In the last rounds of talks in KL,
our peace observers from Congress even accompanied the GPH panel to Kuala Lumpur so that they could personally
witness the rigor and difficulty of the peace negotiations. No one told us then that we were betraying the interests of
the republic.
March 2015
The CAB, and later the BBL, has been subject to consultations and forums particularly in but not limited to
Mindanao. The private sector and big business, academe, religious leaders and officials both Christian and Muslim,
and civil society organizations have weighed in on the peace process and the agreements they have produced. All
signed documents were immediately posted online, widely covered by media, with infographics reprinted in major
broadsheets. But the truth is that few of those who are talking loudly today took much interest in all these then.
They say that peace is not an easy path; sometimes its like walking a tightrope. But there is no alternative to peace.
War cannot end war. Religious officials, civil society leaders, business persons, academicians have spoken out who
live and work in Mindanao. They know how destructive war is, and how fragile peace is. That is why, to a person,
they have issued calls for peace very early on when thick haze still hung over Mamasapano. They called for a
resumption of congressional hearings on the BBL.
Some legislators and politicians wish to demonize the MILF. But I can say,
from working with the MILF in the past three years, that they have earned
the trust and respect of GPH peace negotiators with a ceasefire that has
held firm since the Al Barka incident in October, 2011. The trust of the AFP
has been won with successful joint operations against lawless elements and
to rescue kidnap victims, and some occasional PNP officials who wandered
into hostile territory, in central Mindanao. And most of all, they have won
the trust and respect of the whole-of-government for choosing time and
again to stay on the table through the stickiest negotiations, shifting from
winner-take-all talking points to joint and mutual problem-solving to move
the multiple tracks of the peace process forward not just in pursuing the
political settlement in the autonomous Bangsamoro , but also in the delivery
of the Sajahatra Bangsamoro peace dividends, the crafting and adoption
of the Bangsamoro Development Plan, and the groundwork for the phased
and gradual decommissioning of MILF combatants in the context of the
comprehensive Normalization Annex.
I find it oddly strange

that it is legislators
and politicians who
have not witnessed,
or felt, first-hand the
scourge and ravages of
war in Mindanao who
come charging at our
peace structures with
a wrecking ball.
To say so is not lawyering for them but speaking the truth in love, to borrow
a line from scripture.
I find it oddly strange that it is legislators and politicians who have not witnessed, or felt, first-hand the scourge and
ravages of war in Mindanao who come charging at our peace structures with a wrecking ball. What is it like to live
your life forever on the run? What is it like to lose your home, and your wits, because bombs come raining from the
sky? What is it like to force your adolescent daughter to work abroad because there is no decent work for bakwits
or semi-permanent refugees? What is it like to force your underage daughter to marry because there is no security
of home for her? What is it like to know that the little boy that you suckled at your breast will not grow up to learn
reading and arithmetic and how to make a living from his talents and acquired skills? What he will learn best is how
to point the gun and pull the trigger and, at what is supposed to be the prime of his life, he will wake up on many
mornings with the knowledge that this is a day when he may kill or be killed.
This is what war has meant in Mindanao not for one, or two, or three, but for thousands, for tens of thousands, for
hundreds of thousands, and during the episodes of all-out war, for half a million people, even a million, of its people:
Muslim, Christian, lumad.
That is why Mindanao people children and bishops and ulamas and businessmen and women and teachers and NGO
leaders that is why their reaction to congressional freezing of BBL hearings is visceral, pained. Because they know
what the costs are, they know that war is infinitely costlier than peace.
If speaking this truth labels me as lawyering for MILF, I do not mind. Better that than to shut up because it is not
March 2015
popular, or sexy, to speak up at this time in defense of peace. How oddly strange to be so viciously assailed for
speaking up for peace.
People in Mindanao are also pained by the resurgence of our old biases and dualistic thinking of us versus them,
expressed in the view that the only good Moro is a dead Moro, or that Muslims can never be trusted. We must
unlearn this dualism so we can move beyond our superficial analyses to a more discerning view of the peace process
and our stakes in it.
Mamapasano has, indeed, set back the peace process but let us use this lull to clearly spell out the stakes, not only
for Mindanaoans, but also for people from the north (Luzon) and the central islands (Visayas). We cannot prosper
as a nation with a house divided. We cannot live the promise of life abundant while pockets of poverty and violence
and squalor remain in Mindanao.
Let us issue primers on peace, let us hold fora such as this, let us write letters to the editor, let us lobby our
congresspersons, let us reach out over and over again to Filipinos who are different from and unfamiliar to us. Let us
keep the flame of peace burning, to keep BBL at the top of the agenda, and to honor our fallen 67.
And, finally - what is to be done?
There is a well-loved Protestant hymn that goes: Once to every man/woman and nation, comes the moment to
decide In the end, this is a moment of truth for every Filipino: Christian, Bangsamoro, or lumad. The President,
PNoy, has put it this way: Am I for peace? Or am I for war?
Shall we let our fears, insecurities, and falsehoods, rule us? Can we afford to sit on the fence, let the wind blow where
it will, and may the best or strongest side win?
Let us not sell ourselves short. Not for nothing did we fight Spain, again and again, for three and a half centuries to
strike out at injustice, for the call to freedom. Not for nothing did we fight the Americans at the cost of becoming
a howling wilderness to defend our sovereignty and freedom. Not for nothing did we fight against the darkness of
totalitarian rule, which triumph inspired the world with our people power revolution 29 years ago yesterday to
regain our freedom and once again light our way to a future of justice, democracy, and peace.
I beg you, the young people here: as young Filipinos to whom the future rightly and irrevocably belongs, please
do not sell yourselves short. Insist on your say to how the future will take shape. Insist that decisions that will
determine your future not be made on the basis of emotions or more accurately, emotionalism not on the
basis of allegations and surely not on the basis of prejudices and petrified perspectives that belong to the past and
will not serve in your quest to manage and overcome the challenges of the future. Please demand that, when the
BBL is put to a vote in Congress, it will be the future of the children Christian, Muslim, and lumad; equally for the
child in Mamasapano as the child in Manila that will take center stage and not the 2016 electoral prospects of
politicians.
Today we are called to stand beside, not against, our Muslim brothers and sisters in their quest for justice and
selfhood within a house united, not divided. The most vociferous voices call for a stop to the BBL hearings, call for a
revamp of the peace infrastructure in midstream. Perhaps the most charitable thing to say is that they do not know
whereof they speak.
Let the blood shed at Mamasapano clear, and not blind, our vision in the quest for truth and justice. Let the sturm und
drang of these days be as a refiners fire to purify words of their dross.
And may the peacemakers be blessed.
March 2015
Women at the Forefront:
Championing peace
against all odds
By POLLY CUNANAN
IT WAS ANOTHER HEATED DEBATE.
In the hallowed halls of the Senate, a lawmaker who had immediately withdrawn his sponsorship of a proposed
law that could resolve the 40-year armed conflict in Mindanao took to the plenary floor.
In front of reporters and TV cameras, he asked the Presidential peace adviser, Secretary Teresita Quintos Deles,
in his typical bluster:
What side are you representing sa peace panel? Kayo ni Chair Ferrer, and ni Gen. Galvez? Are you
representing the Government of the Republic of the Philippines or are you representing the MILF?
In a mixture of frustration and conviction, Secretary Deles, replied:
Of course, your Honor, I am representing the Republic of the Philippines on every occasion... your
Honor.
Another war?
More than a month after the tragic incident in

Mamasapano, Maguindanao, which claimed 67 lives, it
seems that another war has ensued. This one, a war of
words, a decimation of reputations, and the Bangsamoro
peace process is the latest casualty.
With politicos grandstanding in both chambers of Congress;
media spouting sensationalized news; and uninformed
netizens calling for all-out war from the comforts of their
homes, noises and cries for blood abound in the public
sphere.
In the midst of all these are four women two Christians
and two Muslims who, going against popular opinion,
have appealed for sobriety and reason. In the process, they
have been cursed and vilified, but they persist all in the
name of ending an internecine war and finally bringing
peace to Mindanao.
6
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita

Ging Deles, Government of the Philippines chief
negotiator Miriam Iye Coronel-Ferrer, and Muslim
lawmakers, Maguindanao first district and Cotabato City
Representative Bai Sandra Sema, and Anak Mindanao party
list Representative Sitti Djalia Turabin Hataman stand
tall among the few men and women who have openly
supported the call for the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic
Law that is designed to bring peace and development to
Muslim Mindanao, the poorest region in the country.
Secretary Deles and Chairperson Ferrer seem to possess
nerves of steel while Bai Sandra Sema and Sitti Djalia
Hataman have shown hearts of gold as they face great odds
in their fight for peace in Bangsamoro, in Mindanao, and
the entire country.
Its okay. You dont need to think of how to defend me,
the soft-spoken Ferrer tells her staff. It is all part of the
job.
March 2015
Deles, Ferrer, Sema and Hataman: Standing up for the peace process
It has always been my job to give hope where there is

none, Deles says. When I was in Maguindanao recently,
a stranger just came up to me and told me that she
appreciates what I am doing. It is really for them that I do
what I do.
Women championing peace
One marvels at the quiet dignity, grace, and stamina Deles

and Ferrer have shown in the hearings conducted by both
chambers of Congress, and the media frenzy as they go
through interview after interview in an effort to get people
to understand the high stakes in the governments peace
process with the Bangsamoro.
One wonders if other people, men for example, were in
their position, would they exhibit the same level of passion
and commitment that these women have shown? Or
perhaps the better question is, if they were men, would
they have received the same kind of bullying these women
have been unfairly treated to?
Definitely in judging, maligning, demonizing the peace
process We have to admit there is a gender bias there. I
do not think we would have had that kind of viciousness
if it were men in our place, the peace adviser laments.
Women are always tested harder than men but, I hope, we
have passed so far.
Indeed, if they could successfully end more than 17 years of
painstaking negotiations with an armed group, definitely
these women peace champions can steer the peace process
to rise above its present quagmire.
Ferrer, in fact, foretold this in an early statement when she
said, We know there will be typhoons or flooding along the
way. But if we dont give up, and we stay together, maaabot
March 2015
din natin ang inaasam na kapayapaan (we will definitely reach

the peace we have long desired), she said.
The peace imperatives now
The Mamasapano tragedy is considered a major test for the

peace process. But what does it take to move it forward at
this juncture?
Both Deles and Ferrer agree that exacting truth, justice and
accountability for those who have fallen in Mamasapano
are important, and it must be for the sake of all parties
involved in the incident. But the quest for elusive peace
must continue.
Let the blood shed at Mamasapano clear, and not blind,
our vision in the quest for truth and justice, Secretary
Deles said at a recent forum. Let the sturm und drang of
these days be as a refiners fire to purify words of their
dross.
She appealed: We must make sense of Mamasapano by
learning the lessons of history; and by keeping our ears
close to the ground. Wars alarms ring in the halls of
Congress and in social media but not in the blood-drenched
fields of Maguindanao where people, and children most of
all, pay the price of the conflict.
Chair Ferrer notes that the only way forward is to show
that this path to peace is viable and that it can accomplish
things that war has not accomplished That is why we
have not wavered in our determination to see through
the peace process because the other alternative is simply
unthinkable. That alternative will bring chaos.
She reminded the Filipino people of the aspirations that are
at the core of the Bangsamoro peace process: Stop the war
in Mindanao, realize meaningful autonomy in the region

and deliver social justice through political and economic
reforms.
If we dont lose sight of these basics, we will find a good
way to ensure the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law and
bring to life new institutions and not be stomped along the
way.
Deles also took note of the great opportunity that the
current conversations on the peace process afford. Our
legislators are now very much engaged in the discussions
on the law. I hope and pray that this will strengthen and
result in to an even better Bangsamoro Law.
Sisterhood in peace
Bai Sandra Sema is the wife of Moro National Liberation

Front leader Muslimin Sema. She has been very vocal
about her experience of being caught in the cross fire of
conflict since her childhood in Mindanao. Since then, she
has actively worked for peace so that her children and
grandchildren will never have to suffer through what she
herself has gone through.
It is easy to call for war, she said at a hearing on the
Mamasapano incident of the House of Representatives
Committee on Public Order. We are here to know the
truth, so that what happened will not be repeated; so that
finally peace can be attained; so that the lives of military,
police, MILF, and others will be spared, but most especially,
the lives of our people.
For her part, Sittie Djalia has called for openness and
acceptance of Muslims and the Bangsamoro people by the
larger Filipino populace.
In a television interview, Sittie Djalia shared a conversation
with her son where the latter said, Ina (Mother), I dont
think that most of the Filipinos do not like us. I think its
just that they do not know us.
The Muslim lawmaker noted that education, knowledge,
and pagpapakilala (getting to know one another) are very
important for the larger Filipino populace to understand
the context of the Bangsamoro struggle.
Sittie Djalia has been a peace advocate for 18 years prior to
being a party list representative. She related a conversation
she had with a young woman-leader from Al-Barka, Basilan,
8
the site of a bloody encounter in October 2011 between

the military and MILF forces, and the last recorded violent
clash between the parties. Since then, the ceasefire has held
for more than three years until the unfortunate incident in
Mamasapano.
The first time I met her, I asked her, what do you want?
Ang sabi lang ho niya, saan ho kami makakakuha ng ID or ng
certificate o kahit na anong sulat na magsasabing mabubuting
tao kami (She just said, where do you think we can get an ID
or certificate or any kind of document at all that attests to
the fact that we are also good people)?
I believe in the inherent goodness of every person. Thats
why, we are not giving up, Sittie Djalia said. Makiusap
tayo, magpaliwanag tayo, baka sakaling marinig, mabuksan
ang isipan, mabuksan ang puso, magkakaroon ng pagkakataon
para sa kapayapaan (Let us appeal and explain [to the
Filipino people], perhaps they will listen, they will have
open minds, open hearts for us to finally have a chance for
peace).
Nudges and moving forward
Taking stock of current realities, the women peace

champions know how difficult the work is going to be,
winning over an angry public, getting them to support the
peace process, and making them see what the other side is
all about.
For both Secretary Deles and Chair Ferrer, it doesnt
matter if they continue to be bashed by lawmakers
and crucified in the public sphere. No matter what fire
and bluster are unleashed in the public sphere and
in the venerated halls of Congress, Ferrer holds, It is
very important that we keep nudging cautiously and
graciously, ever so sensitive to the cultural milieu of the
Filipino social strata.
For Deles, If speaking this truth labels me as lawyering for
MILF, I do not mind. Better that than to shut up because it
is not popular, or sexy, to speak up at this time in defense of
peace. How oddly strange it is to be so viciously assailed for
speaking up for peace.
Undeterred and even more determined, she said, The
peace process has been disrupted but not beaten back. We
will forge ahead. Let us stand for peace and reclaim the
birthright of countless generations of Filipinos yet unborn,
of a country united in a just and lasting peace.
March 2015
Gender in the Peace Process

By SOCORRO L. REYES, PH.D.
International Consultant, Social Development and Gender Equality
THE TWO WOMEN leading the peace process, Professor
Gender stereotyped or socially constructed roles and

power relationships permeate conflict resolution and
the peace process. Womens presence at peace talks is a
necessary but not sufficient condition for the integration
of the womens agenda in the discussion and negotiation.
Fortunately, both Deles and Coronel-Ferrer as well as the
women in the Bangsamoro Transition Commission have
a womens perspective as shown in the explicit gender
equality provisions in the Framework and Comprehensive
Agreements as well as the Basic Law on the Bangsamoro.
The support of the men in both panels was extremely
helpful.
Subjected to the harshest of criticisms and baseless

accusations, including lawyering for MILF, both CoronelFerrer and Deles exercised maximum restraint and kept
their composure. At no time were they disrespectful to
those who scolded, castigated or embarrassed them.
A study in 2012 showed that of 31 peace processes

between 1992 and 2011, women are only 4% of
signatories, 2.4% of chief mediators, 3.7% of witnesses and
9% of negotiators (UNIFEM, 2012). This is in spite of the
passage in 2000 of Security Council Resolution 1325 that
urges increased representation of women at all decisionmaking levels in national, regional and international
institutions and mechanisms for the prevention,
management and resolution of conflict. To assess the
progress in the implementation of SC 1325 by member
states as well as address obstacles and constraints, a
high-level review will be done this year, the 15th
anniversary of SC 1325. This is one of the provisions
of SC 2122 passed on October 18, 2013, to provide a
more systematic approach in the implementation of
commitments to women, peace and security.
Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, Chair of the government peace

panel and Teresita Quintos Deles, Presidential peace
adviser have demonstrated in the Mamapasano hearings
why they are the best for the job. With sharpness of
mind, clarity of articulation, calmness of disposition,
both provided substantive answers to questions from
legislators, whether they were speaking to the gallery or
genuinely searching for the truth. They showed mastery
of the content and process of the agreements reached, the
mechanisms established, the rationale and meaning of
every single BBL provision.
Yet with all these outstanding qualities of good and

effective negotiators, some legislators and influentials
have called for their resignation. One even called them
peace ladies who should have convened a group of
retired military advisers insinuating that as women and
non-military people, they do not know enough of the ways
of war and how to negotiate with rebel groups.
This perspective reflects a deep gender bias as it assumes
that the peace process only starts when the combatants,
mostly men, are brought to the negotiating table in an
attempt to end the conflict. In reality, the process starts
long before formal negotiations when women and civil
society initiate steps to end the conflict.
A peace and womens rights activist, Deles has spent most
of her working life with peace organizations such as the
Coalition for Peace founded in 1987 and the Gaston Z.
Ortigas Peace Institute and has spearheaded numerous
programs to promote peace and solidarity. CoronelFerrer, on the other hand, has been involved not only
in negotiating for an end to the Mindanao conflict but in
peace processes in other countries such as Cambodia, East
Timor and Nepal.
March 2015
The appointment of two competent, experienced

women experts in the highest decision-making positions
in the peace process in Mindanao is a major
accomplishment in the Philippine governments
implementation of SC 1325. What better way to
celebrate Women in History Month than to recognize
the contributions of Ging Deles and Iye Coronel-Ferrer
in the crafting of the Framework and Comprehensive
Agreements on the Bangsamoro and the drafting of the
Bangsamoro Basic Law. Though these are now under
sharp scrutiny, the fact remains that these are milestones
in the peace process!!
Saving the BBL

Citizens rally for all-out peace
Text by KRIS LANOT LACABA
Photos by JOSER DUMBRIQUE and KRIS LANOT LACABA
THE MAMASAPANO INCIDENT
was a national tragedy, the pain and

confusion of which reawakened in
certain sectors age-old biases against
communities in southern Philippines.
The Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL),
a proposed measure to establish a
just and lasting peace in war-weary
Muslim Mindanao became an easy
target. Some lawmakers viciously
attacked the BBL as benefiting a
bloodthirsty terrorist group that is out
to dismember the Philippine republic.
And there were those who have
disingenuously declared their desire
for peace while calling for all-out war.
Many have seen through the smoke
and mirrors and decided it is time to
speak up for genuine peace for the
people of Mindanao. They are on radio
and television, and speak in forums
to explain the BBL and counter the
10
half-truths being peddled to the public

by the media and the legislature. And
they are out in the streets and parks,
to march, to rally, to plead, to pray for
the continuation of the peace process,
the preservation of the ceasefire
mechanisms, and the passage of the
BBL.
They are civil society members,
womens groups, nuns, priests, police,
students, academics, legal experts, and
ordinary concerned Filipino citizens
Christians and Muslims alike who see
that the promise of peace in Muslim
Mindanao, once so close one could
almost touch it, must urgently be
fulfilled through the BBL.
One of the first demonstrations
was a march to Mendiola by more
than a hundred members of women
and youth groups and civil society
organizations. And on March 6, which
was declared by peace advocates as

a National Day Towards Healing for
Unity and Peace, interfaith prayer
rallies, marches, musical concerts,
peace vigils were held in Baguio, Metro
Manila, Bacolod, and Dumaguete.
Peace advocates also gathered in
various places in Mindanao, including
Tawi-Tawi, Davao, and Mamasapano,
to rally and pray for peace.
The groups called on the public to
understand that all-out war will only
mean a continuation of the vicious
cycle of hatred and violence. The
passage of the draft law, they said,
will help break that and establish a
virtuous cycle of peace, security, and
socio-economic development for
people badly in need of it.
As the peace advocates declare, War
solves nothing. Let us pursue the
Mindanao peace process.
March 2015
March 2015
11
12
March 2015
Women forge on, echoing the calls for peace

A womens group urges us to look at the Mamasapano incident from a different angle.
By ANA NATIVIDAD
WE Act 1325
THE MAMASAPANO INCIDENT, which has dominated
broadsheets for weeks now, serves as a looming

reminder of how delicate the road to peace really is. It
shows how one incident can create a giant speed bump
to an otherwise steadily moving process that had all
intentions of charging ahead. In the midst of the shock
and outpouring of emotion, social media has developed
into another battleground where cries for all-out war
have joined the mourning voices, those seeking answers
and the truth, and those calling for justice. The streams
of information released have also contributed to the
growing negative sentiments felt all around. Despite these
challenges, peace advocates have not wavered. On the
contrary, they are as motivated as ever to push for peace,
to provide a less-heard but equally important perspective
that takes a look at the bigger picture. Among them are the
women of WE Act 1325.
The Women Engaged in Action on 1325 (WE Act 1325)
recognize the pressing need to insert positive voices,
voices of peace, into this mix. Following January 25,
various efforts have been mobilized to remind the general
public that turning our backs on the peace process at
this critical juncture would be detrimental to everyone
involved. These efforts highlight the need to look beyond
the incident. There is a need to look at the context,
the history, and, most importantly, the community
the ordinary citizens affected by what happened in
Mamasapano. They urge the public to look beyond the
deaths of the 44, acknowledging that 67 Filipinos lost their
lives that day, and many more may suffer the same fate if
we do not continue with the peace process in Mindanao.
The gains achieved by the laborious process that has
spanned decades will be negated, says their statement, if
we allow the peace process to be taken hostage as a result
of the incident in Mamasapano.
The network has been heightening its advocacy by
joining other peace networks, such as the Friends of
March 2015
the Bangsamoro, in public actions, such as the one held

on Mendiola bridge, and press conferences calling for
peace and truth in these trying times. The network has
also launched newspaper ads, asking such questions as,
As stories of Mamasapano are told, cant we rise above
our prejudices long enough to mourn them all? This
highlights the fact that many people beyond the Special
Action Force members were affected, and that this
incident should not be the cause for us to renege on our
commitment to peace and revert to our prejudiced lenses
of viewing the Bangsamoro.
A notable and very important initiative that the network

has participated in is the Womens Solidarity and Listening
Mission, wherein civil society representatives visited
the women of Mamasapano to hear the stories that have
been missed by the mainstream media. In the shadows of
the headlines are womens voices sharing their personal
tragedies, and hopes for true and lasting peace for
their families and communities. WE Act 1325 Steering
Committee member, Carmen Lauzon-Gatmaytans article
in Mindanews, opens a window into other wounds left
in the wake of Mamasapano, and how these mothers,
wives and grandmothers continue to forge on, despite
everything they have lost.
The women of WE Act 1325 are determined not to let this
incident turn into a glaring stop sign, but simply a speed
bump, on the longer journey to a just and lasting peace for
the Bangsamoro and for the entire nation.
13
Zenonida Brosas and Cecilia Jimenez
Deepening the Peace
Zenonida Brosas, Co-chair, Joint Normalization Committee
Making a difference in a mans world

By JENNIFER SANTOS
Zen has a bachelors degree in

Agricultural Economics from UP Los
Baos and a Masters and PhD in
Urban and Regional Planning from UP
Diliman.
I WOULD BE DANCING, Zen
Brosas says gaily, when asked what

she would be doing if she was not
involved in the security sector
and the peace process between
the Government and the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Zen is currently co-chair of the
Joint Normalization Committee
(JNC) tasked to implement the
different phases of the Annex on
Normalization. She adds that she
might also be farming or gardening:
I want to raise flowers.
But life had a different path laid out
for Zenonida Zen Brosas.
14
After college, not knowing what she

wanted to do, she took on different
research assistantships in UP doing
feasibility studies for the Bureau of
Immigration, the Development Bank
of the Philippines, and other groups
or offices through friends referrals.
She also did a project proposal for the
Department of Agriculture on Rural
Development and other integrated
area development projects. What
motivated her to do all these, as well
as her current jobs, is the desire
inculcated in her by her parents,
to make a difference. They said,
Your goal in life should be to make
a difference in someones life, be it
anywhere or everywhere.
From freelance work, Zen took on a
full-time job at the National Security
Council (NSC). A friend of Dr. Allan
Ortiz asked a friend of mine if he
knew someone who could do a job at
NSC, Zen recalls. At the time, she was
supposed to embark on a six-month
UNDP water impounding project in
Malaysia. However, her mother had
a stroke and Zen had to weigh her

options carefully.
A career in national security
It was the start of an interesting

20-year (and still counting) career in
national security, where, by tradition,
men have ruled for decades.
The National Security Council (NSC)
is the principal advisory body for the
proper coordination and integration
of plans and policies affecting national
security. It was created through
Executive Order 330 of 1950, under
the Quirino Administration.
Zen started working at the NSC as
director of the Socio-Economic Unit
of the Policy Study Branch, a post she
held from 1990 to 1998. I came in as
a director for six months. And then
they recommended me to become
the assistant director general. She
was also the assistant director for
the Information Management Office
tasked to make project proposals on
issues affecting national security with
a focus on socio-economic factors.
At NSC, she saw the connection of left
recruitment and the socio-economic
conditions of a person. If you lose
March 2015
your job, will the left recruit you?

Thats the bottom line. I couldnt
see that before. I couldnt figure
out the lefts basis for recruitment.
She learned how displacement,
unemployment and poverty are
factors leading to the vulnerability of a
person to be recruited by the left.
As part of her job, Zen worked with
OPAPP on the GPHMNLF Peace
Agreement as her first assignment.
At that time, although there were
women in the staff, she was the only
woman officer of NSC. She studied
the agenda of the GPHMNLF Peace
Agreement since they were working
on the Organic Act (Republic Act
6734) which called for the creation of
the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao.
In 1998, Zen was appointed assistant
director general for Administration
and Legislative Liaison and Policy
Research Support. She held the post
until 2010 when she was promoted to
Deputy DG.
In 2010, Zen was appointed
undersecretary of the NSC and
executive director of the Presidential
Situation Room (PSR). Created
through Administrative Order
number 2, the PSR is where the
President handles situations of critical
importance to national security. It
provides the President information
in real time and a space for dealing
with security situations. Zen makes it
a point to review the PSR report every
day which she needs to finish by eight
oclock every evening.
Zen was not involved in actual
negotiations during the GPHMILF
Peace Process. My involvement
was giving opinions, comments with
respect to the things that OPAPP
would send us. But in the end, she
March 2015
was appointed chair of the GPH

Technical Working Group (TWG) on
Normalization.
When I arrived in KL for the first
meeting, the MILF team was shocked.
They never saw me during the time
when Dean Marvic Leonen was GPH
panel chair. But she felt she had
the upper hand when handling the
meetings because she already knew
some of the people involved in the
negotiations.
Iqbal has been known to me ever
since we negotiated the Ceasefire
Agreement in 1996. We drafted that
mechanism. Zen was anxious at first
because this was the first time that
she had come face-to-face with an
MILF commander, her counterpart,
Muhammad Nassif. To overcome
her anxiety and to learn more
about the process, she befriended
her counterpart on the other side
of the table. So, that started the
introductions and during coffee time,
I told my partner, usap tayo (lets talk).
The Comprehensive Agreement on
the Bangsamoro and its Annexes,
including that of the Normalization,
was signed in March 2014. Zen is
currently the co-chair of the Joint
Normalization Committee (JNC) tasked
to implement the different phases of
the Annex on Normalization, making
sure that the police structure based
on the Annex is set up, and their
role on the decommissioning. The
JNC, together with the International
Decommissioning Body (IDB),
determines how to secure the
combatants who will turn over their
firearms at and come up with a socioeconomic package for them. JNC
makes the policy and the Joint Peace
and Security Committee through the
Joint Peace and Security Team who
will implement it.
What excites Zen about her

work in normalization is the
decommissioning. It will be a big,
big accomplishment and it will show
the world that after all, these people
are reasonable. When someone says
that the MILF is not to be trusted, my
response is, just wait, everyone makes
mistakes. The most exciting part is
the fulfilment of the objective of the
decommissioning which is to get the
MILF to turn over their firearms and
give the rebels a civilian life. THAT is
making a difference.
The challenge of peace
With all the challenges the peace

process is facing, Zen is optimistic
that peace can be attained and the
peace process will work. I think
with the help and prayers of
everyone, it will. Weve gone a long
way, decisions of individuals and
policy makers would have to be
pragmatic. We have to be pragmatic;
we have to think of long-term
solutions, and not just for this
administration. Weve been through
conflict a lot and the solutions of
before didnt really work. So this
is making a difference in decisionmaking, I am hopeful that this will
work, if we all cooperate.
Zen adds, Peace is something you
work for. Peace cannot be done by an
individual; it is a partnership. But you
have to have inner peace before you
can make peace with everyone.
Zen Brosas might not be dancing, or
running a farm or planting a garden,
but by the work she is doing, she is
raising more than crops or flowers.
She has raised a consciousness of
the work for peace, and how in the
traditionally male domain of national
security, a woman can and has, made
a big difference.
15
Cecilia Jimenez, GPH Representative, Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission
The return of the native

the influence of a grandfather judge

who used law to better the lives of
others. As a high school student
at Stella Maris College, ran by the
Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, she
was struck by the nuns reports on
their missions to Mindanao tending
to the needs of marginalized people
including Muslimsbearing witness to
the atrocities committed there. This
was, after all, martial law, and the
nuns periodic reports sharpened her
sense of justice.
DESPITE THE ROCKY PATH,
toward the passage of the Bangsamoro

Basic Law (BBL), the government of
the Philippine Republic (GPH) and
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
are ready, willing and able to pursue
matters of justice and reconciliation.
Eminently qualified by professional
training, work experience, and
personal inclination is lawyer
Cecilia Cej Jimenez-Damary, who
represents the Philippine government
in the Transitional Justice and
Reconciliation Commission (TJRC).
Formed in September 2014, the TJRC is
part of the annex on normalization in
the Comprehensive Agreement on the
Bangsamoro. The TJRC is chaired by
M Bleeker, Swiss special ambassador
on transitional justice. The
commissions MILF representative is
lawyer Ishak Mastura.
Jimenez earned a foreign service
degree from the University of the
Philippines but was later drawn to law
studies for several reasons. First was
16
Finally, as undergraduate at the

University of the Philippines, she
was exposed to protest action, visited
picket lines, and spoke with torture
victims in detention. As Philippine
Collegian news editor, she became
friends with news reporter, now GPHMILF panel chair, Miriam CoronelFerrer, with whom she would share
an abiding passion for human rights
advocacy.
Human rights work
Jimenez completed a law degree at

Ateneo de Manila in 1988, passed
the bar in 1990 and worked with the
Philippine Alliance of Human Rights
Advocates (PAHRA) as deputy general
secretary for international affairs and
for legal matters until 1993.
People Power propelled Cory Aquino
to the presidency in the mid-80s but
when government peace talks with
the CPP/NPA/NDF collapsed, the
military adopted a total war policy.
One consequence was intensive
military operations in targeted or
suspected rebel areas that caused
massive dislocation of populations.
Jimenez recalls continuing arbitrary

arrests and warrantless arrests
that took her all over the islands
doing legal work to protect victims of
human rights violations.
Spanning 450,000 hectares in
northern Luzon, Marag Valley
had been tagged as a hotbed of
rebellion from the 1970s through
the 1990s. Marag Valley was subject
to military campaigns that drove
entire communities from their homes
and rice fields. Many sought refuge
in the deep forest. One area was
listed as having 200 casualties but
the combined tally for the dead and
missing is believed to be closer to 500.
Representing PAHRA, in tandem
with the Ecumenical Movement for
Justice and Peace (EMJP), Jimenez led
three fact-finding missions to Marag
Valley in the 90s, her first exposure
to the issue of internally displaced
persons or IDPs (then called internal
refugees). What she learned and the
advocacy work emanating from this
experience would serve her later in
the international human rights arena.
Jimenez was spokesperson for AsiaPacific NGOs at the 1993 Conference
on Human Rights in Vienna. Soon
after, she took a year off in London
to pursue a masters of law degree
in public international law, as a
Chevening scholar. After marriage in
1995 to a Swiss agronomist active in
Philippine solidarity work she moved
to Bulgaria, but Jimenez continued
her work as member of the Amnesty
International (AI) Mandate Committee
tasked to study borderline cases.
One question posed to her was
March 2015
whether female genital mutilation

(FGM) fell within the scope of AIs
work. Her study recommended
inclusion of FGM, which she says was
revolutionary at that time. In about
a year, FGM officially became part of
AIs mandate.
Returning to Geneva, Jimenez was
hired as NGO lobbyist for a draft
optional protocol, an addendum
to the United Nations Convention
against Torture. It was hard work that
took all of five years. She brought
to bear on this task everything she
had learned in the Philippines and
elsewhere about human rights,
torture and preventive mechanisms.
When she was certain that the
protocol would pass the UN General
Assembly, she knew her work was
done and was ready to move on.
Legal consultancies in the next six
years engaged her, among others,
in the formation of the UN Human
Rights Council (in lieu of the UN
Commission on Human Rights,
which suffered credibility problems)
and also in pro bono work such as
securing the right to vote for Filipino
overseas workers. In 2008, Jimenez
was hired as senior legal officer
and senior trainer by the Internal
Displacement Monitoring Center
(IDMC) of the Norwegian Refugee
Council, a worldwide humanitarian
NGO.
Full circle
Her task? To give advice and training

to governments and human rights
organizations on the United Nations
Guiding Principles on Internal
Displacement (UNGPID). Jimenez
is grateful for her five years with
IDMC where she honed her skills
and knowledge in the human rightsbased approach to humanitarian
March 2015
assistance and disaster management.

This also afforded her the chance
to take specialist courses such as
International Disaster Law and in
International Humanitarian Law, a
course on the Islamic laws of war.
With IDMC she has gone full circle,
Jimenez says, Marag Valley in the
early 90s introducing her to the issue
of internal displacement. The full
circle also makes a fitting preface to
her work with the TJRC.
The TJRC is mandated to prepare
and submit a report on how to tackle
matters of transitional justice and
reconciliation, specifically policy
recommendations. The report will
be submitted to the GPH and MILF
negotiating panels with focus on
implementation.
To attain its mandate, the TJRC has
launched a process of consultations,
mandated studies, and is undertaking
assessments on transitional justice
and reconciliation in the Bangsamoro.
Over 200 consultations will be held
in the Bangsamoro from February
to April 2015. Jimenez calls it a
listening process. The report,
she says, should be politically
feasible and acceptable, based on
the Bangsamoro history, reality and
vision for justice.
The report will delve on the issues
of legitimate grievances of the
Bangsamoro, historical injustice,
human rights violations, and
marginalization through land
dispossession. Jimenez stresses that
the report will not be only for the
Bangsamoro and Mindanao, but also
for the nation. Our tribal identities
(Ilokano, Ilonggo, etc.) remain strong,
she says. Diversity is good, but we
must learn to live together as a nation
while retaining our identities.
Jimenez holds that it is necessary to

have multiple narrativesat the end
of the day some narratives will be in
contention with each other. It has
helped, she says, that as a Filipina she
had lived for 17 years in Switzerland.
The country, with its French-,
German- and Italian-speaking
populations, is a model of different
peoples living together in diversity.
Jimenez says we as a country still need
to work toward such acknowledgment
of diversity, sharing the same political
and economic space.
Citizenship, Jimenez underscores,
is a matter of identity, loyalty and
commitment as to ones constructive
contribution to society. In nearly
two decades of working and living
in Europe, she earned her legal,
academic and NGO spurs and raised
a family. Through it all, her Filipino
citizenship remained her true north.
Upon her return to the Philippines,
Commission on Human Rights
Chairperson Loretta Rosales needed
a consultant to manage a project on
IDPs supported by the United Nations
High Commissioner on Refugees
(UNCHR). In early 2013, Jimenez
answered the call and resigned from
her international post, relocating to
Davao City with her family.
Davao is a deliberate choice because
it allows her to see issues from the
point of view of Mindanao. And the
TJRC assignment, she says, provides
the opportunity to immerse myself
in learning and understanding the
context of Bangsamoro historically,
politically, and culturally.
Having done work in eastern and
central Europe, Africa and the Middle
East, this native has returned to tread
the rocky road to peace in Mindanao
and is warming to the challenge.
17
I am for peace, the peace that God grants to people of goodwill. I am for the peace that God
gives through the collaborative work of men and women who work conscientiously for the good
of the whole country. By focusing on the good of a Bangsamoro minority in the peripheries
who have suffered social injustices for centuries, they are working for the common good of all
Filipinos. They are healing historic wounds that have caused great suffering to all Filipinos.
ORLANDO CARDINAL QUEVEDO, Archdiocese of Cotabato
At a critical juncture in our

history, we have a golden
opportunity to preserve our
gains and use them as a
platform to put the country on
an irreversible path towards
inclusive development and
political maturity. We cannot
afford to squander 56 months
of institutionalizing reforms,
weeding out corruption, and
solidifying our economic and
social foundations.
Joint statement of
CAGAYAN DE ORO CHAMBER

OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
FOUNDATION, INC., EMPLOYERS
CONFEDERATION OF THE
PHILIPPINES, FINANCIAL
EXECUTIVES INSTITUTE OF
THE PHILIPPINES, MAKATI
BUSINESS CLUB, MANAGEMENT
ASSOCIATION OF THE
PHILIPPINES, MINDANAO
BUSINESS COUNCIL,
PHILIPPINE BUSINESS FOR
SOCIAL PROGRESS
Justice is served when we give peace.

Peace is the ultimate justice we can get.
GEN. EMMANUEL BAUTISTA
Retired AFP Chief of Staff
We dont want to repeat history. Going back to war with the

MILF is quite absurd. Its illogical. Its unlawful, maybe Here
are people asking for peace and then all of a sudden you tell
them, No, lets just go to war to finish all these things. Its
easy to call for war If they want war, they should be the first
ones to volunteer to be in the front lines. Maybe theyll know
what kind of war theyre talking about.
GEN. GREGORIO PIO CATAPANG JR.
Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines
It is going to be a very difficult one but we

cannot abandon the search for peace. We
cannot drop the Bangsamoro Basic Law. I am
scared of the possibility of the collapse of the
peace process I am scared of war.
REP. RODOLFO BIAZON
Retired General and former AFP Chief of Staff
Let me declare at the outset that I support the creation of a Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.
Its establishment is certainly allowed by the 1987 Constitution Indeed, in many ways, the
Philippines as a whole will benefit from the experience of the Bangsamoro.
TONY LA VIA, Dean, Ateneo School of Government
18
March 2015
[The BBL] is not a cure-all to all the problems in Mindanao but it

will create the conditions, the prospects of peace and prosperity if
we have a representative and inclusive BBL.
SEN. SONNY ANGARA
Any responsible government that aspires to some

legitimacy would do everything to exhaust all
possibilities of strengthening that fragile peace
through mutual agreement before it threatens war
against its enemies. But, how thoughtlessly we talk
about war! We who were lucky to be born in the postwar era have only an abstract idea of what war means.
Unless we have lived in Mindanao, we really do not
have any appreciation of the value of peace, or of what
it means to be able to raise a family and pursue a life
without being hounded by continual fear.
RANDY DAVID
Decades of war and neglect have

made this part of the country the
worst in almost all available indices.
And for them to catch up, the BBL
will be providing the Bangsamoro
a means for infrastructure
development and socio-economic
programs coupled with sound
political mechanisms and security
arrangements.
SEC. YASMIN BUSRAN-LAO
National Commission for Muslim Filipinos
Their [Deles, Coronel-Ferrer, and Iqbals] diligent efforts, with countless others
along the path of peace, have moved the nation closer to realizing the aspirations of
our Bangsamoro brothers and sisters for meaningful self-determination to live their
religious convictions and shared culture in peace and prosperity.
We believe that the true path to national

unity lies not in retribution and vengeance,
rather in the greater understanding that
we are raising a future generation that will
grow up in an environment of peace and
inclusive development. We urge our leaders
especially in government from across all
branches to continue to strengthen the
peace process.
PROFESSORS FOR PEACE
March 2015
FR. ROBERTO C. YAP, President of Xavier University
Think that the peace process was about

bringing about a situation where even
ideological difference might be overcome
in peace and prosperity, or at least solved
civilly. Think that with the peace process
being wantonly scuttled, the legislators are
delivering us back to this madness. The
legislators. Because the ball is now in their
hands. If they fumble, the game is lost.
FR. JOEL TABORA, S.J.
19
THE ROAD OUT OF MAMASAPANO

Map courtesy of Rappler
In Maguindanao,
gender empowerment
is key to peace
MAGUINDANAO HAS SEARED ITSELF into the national consciousness
with images and accounts of two bloodbaths within barely half a decade of each other:
the numbing carnage committed by a political dynasty in Shariff Aguak in 2009; and the more recent
wrenching deaths of scores of police commandos and Muslim combatants and civilians in Mamapasano.
How to delink Maguindanao from images of death and despair--a bridge too far, too frail, a lonely cornfield? How to
disabuse ourselves of the crippling stereotypes that Maguindanao evokes: of unbridled corruption and political dynasty
building in the extreme; of the rule of the gun rendering the rule of law irrelevant, worse, inutile; of the vast majority
consigned to penury and squalor by inordinate greed of the few; of a poverty of spirit that will not risk dissent and action;
of a culture of violence that mocks childhood and barters away the future?
But the narrative is not unique to Maguindanao for it resonates in other parts of the country. Indeed, there is ambiguity,
fragility, terror in the narrative but they cannot cloak a dynamism, a greater complexity, a resilience, a vibrancy that
dares say: war and death are not the last words in this narrative.
As a Mindanaoan, I have lived with the pain and grief from decades of the so-called Muslim-Christian conflict. As nonMaguindanaoan, I ask myself what can stop the juggernaut of corruption-greed-poverty-violence that has deprived many
Maguindanaoans of a decent life? And how to make sense of the violence at Mamasapano that defies easy answers and
analyses? How not to respond to calls for justice with a peace process that is not left twisting in the wind, if not dead in the
water?
In the days preceding Mamasapano, I visited Maguindanao in pursuit of a story that, in fact, targeted the juggernaut
question (albeit indirectly). After several days of interviews I took off from Cotabato airport mid-morning of January 25,
not knowing that life and death hung in the balance for 67 persons (including an eight-year-old girl) not far from where I
had traveled through days earlier.
Let me leave Mamasapano for now and share the story that was my reportorial task: the first local implementation of the
National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (NAP-WPS) in Maguindanao. In the end that narrative will take us full
circle, in a fashion, back to Mamasapano.
The NAP covers nearly all the bases. It is based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 which seeks the
protection of women, and promotion of their rights, in armed conflict and post-conflict situations. NAPs goals are
fourfold: protection and prevention, empowerment and participation, promotion and mainstreaming, and monitoring and
evaluation (see Kababaihan at Kapayapaan, September 2014).
But the story of NAP localization in Maguindanao goes back earlier to the 1990s when national government agencies (and
later, local government units [LGUs]) were mandated in the yearly General Appropriations Act starting in 1995 to set aside
20
March 2015
at least 5% of their budgets for gender

and development, that is, the GAD
Fund. (In 1992, RA 7192 - Women in
Nation Building - mandated that part
of overseas development funds be
allocated for gender and development
programs.) For various reasons, the
GAD Fund has often remained unused,
or as often misused, even abused.
GAD fund as the key to NAP
Not anymore, at least in some parts

of Maguindanao. NAP localization
has provided the key to unlock the
local GAD funds in the province.
With characteristic prescience, NAP
national steering committee co-chair
and peace adviser Teresita Quintos
Deles saw a perfect fit in NAP and the
GAD Fund, especially in areas that
have experienced armed conflict.
In mid-2012 the Regional Council
of Bangsamoro Women, regional
counterpart to the Philippine Council
of Women (PCW), held an orientation
session on the NAP for LGUs in the
Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao that includes Maguindanao
among five provinces. Although
livelihood, education and human
trafficking (of women and young
girls) were acknowledged as priority
issues for the province, trafficking
was chosen because it was the least
addressed. In a two-year period (201012), 186 cases of trafficking, mostly
of young girls, had been reported in
ARMM.
Gender Focal Point Officer Pol
Ampatuan enthuses, Since NAP
started in 2012, GAD programs have
increased particularly in livelihood
and womens empowerment. NAP
provided direction, established the
GAD focal point system for effective
mechanisms in fund handling and
utilization. He adds that in the past,
most of the GAD planning was left
to the planning officer who came up
March 2015
with content not suited to women,

e.g. study tours which were not
issue-based. NAP has been integrated
into the 15-year provincial strategic
plan to ensure continuity even with
leadership change.
Triple whammy
Maguindanao (land of the flooded

plains) is agriculture-based with
nearly a million in population,
over half of whom are children
and youth (median age is 17.6).
Over 500 barangays constitute 36
municipalities, 22 of which have
experienced trafficking in persons.
Nearly half of the population is female;
and nearly half (45%) of the total lives
below the poverty line. Maguindanao
has consistently ranked second or
third poorest province in the country
in the past decade. (NSCB, 2010).
A triple whammy explains the rise
of trafficking in Maguindanao (and
its neighbors) nearly a decade
of conflict (2000-08) between the
military and the MILF displaced
nearly a quarter of the population
(235,000+), fueled in-between wars
by rido (feudal conflict), and was
aggravated by flooding (in 2006 and
2009) reaching its peak in 2011 which
displaced 462,000 individuals in 27
municipalities.
School participation rates in the

province dropped by 30% with
internally displaced persons (IDPs)
reaching hundreds of thousands. The
repeated cycles of conflict, feudal wars
and flooding plunged families into
deeper poverty. Entire communities
lost their homes, land and
livelihood. Early marriages are also a
consequence of armed conflict and of
prolonged stay in refugee camps and
resettlement centers.
Provincial administrator Abdulwahab
Tunga poignantly describes the lives
of IDPs: Pag nasa evacuation center
di na bumalik dahil takot. Lumaki sa
resettlement area, kubo-kubo, pero
walang livelihood. Magsasaka biglang
nadala sa resettlement area na walang
sakahan, biglang naging vendor, walang
puhunan, walang kaalaman sa pagtitinda.
Kaya Tulong ka na anak, mag-exit
abroad, akala heaven (Fear keeps IDPs
from returning home. Children grow
up in huts in the evacuation area,
sans livelihood. Farmers are expected
to become vendors without capital,
without vending skills. So they plead
with their daughters to become OCWs
and help the family. They think work
abroad is heaven).
Hence the lure of work abroad, for
young girls, with monthly salaries
ranging from P12,000 to P18,000 (in
Nulfarid (Pol) S. Ampatuan, Gender Focal Point Officer (left) and Engineer
Abdulwahab V. Tunga, Provincial Administrator (right)
21
Profiles of victims and survivors

Majority are aged 17. The oldest is 32 and the youngest 14. All are female, save
one. Most come from conflict areas or host communities (areas which host
internally displaced persons). Most have reached elementary school level, a
few are unschooled. Most parents are farmers with low level of schooling, or
none at all. Some recruiters are victims relatives. Birth certificates are faked
or simulated. Through the baklas system (Pilipino for pull out), underage
girls assume the papers and identities of other older women. Intercepted
victims often do not, given their true family backgrounds. [From Maguindanao
Province NAP 2013-2016]
Social welfare officer Barbara T. Guialel recounts that prolonged armed
conflict and the inadequacy of government and humanitarian aid to address
basic needs of the poor push young girls to overseas work, with an offer they
can hardly refuse: cash for the family, free travel and accommodations while
processing papers, and free processing. With no gainful work or meaningful
activity, they are an easy prey to recruiters, often their own kin who reportedly
get P5,000 per recruit.
When processing of papers grew more stringent in Maguindanao with
increased anti-trafficking advocacy, processing shifted to the cities of General
Santos, Cotabato, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, and Davao where unscrupulous
recruiters and agents still had some leeway. In 2013, 54 women and children
were intercepted in Marbel, South Cotabato three cases of illegally trafficked
Maguindanao women and children have been filed in Butuan City, and two
batches have returned.
They may be the lucky ones. Guialel cites one Teduray tribe member from
North Upi who has filed a case with the regional trial court. Under an assumed
identity, she worked in Syria for seven years starting at age 11 without pay,
the employer had her jailed when she fought back, she lost her wits, and
was repatriated in 2011. Another OFW experienced rape, brutality and food
starvation. Yet another died soon after her return home at age 22, apparently
from poison injected by her employer as punishment for a head wound
sustained by a toddler under her care after a fall.
Provincial administrator Tunga speaks of a Catch-22 situation for many
victims. His own cousin sold all her properties to work abroad, sending home
her savings in the course of 20, maybe 30, years. She returned home to nothing,
her kin had spent all her earnings. Others take a loan of P20,000 from the
recruitment agency for papers processing, paid for with their first few months
salary. But there are other debts to pay, e.g. airfare. After paying off debts when
visiting home, she must return abroad to continue sending money home. On
and on the cycle goes, she lives out her days as a domestic in a foreign land.
The provincial governments response to the trafficking problem is threefold:
prevention and awareness raising through education campaigns and
workshops on anti-trafficking legislation; protection, recovery, rehabilitation
and reintegration through coordinated action across LGUs and livelihood skills
training; and prosecution and law enforcement (illegal recruiters have been
prosecuted and jailed).
22
Saudi Arabia) notwithstanding the

stories of abuse and poor working
conditions. Underage recruits manage
to qualify through various means:
the wonders of hijab (head covering)
and make-up, parents false witness
on their daughters age, and spurious
birth certificates for a fee (see
Sidebar).
Four targets of Maguindanao NAP
Maguindanaos provincial NAP plan

has four targets, highlighted in the
booklet Province-National Action Plan
on Women, Peace and Security 2013-16,
namely: institutional development-including GAD focal point system and
local committees on anti-trafficking
(LACAT); prevention and advocacy-capability building and intensified
information campaigns; prosecution
and law enforcement; and
re-integration, recovery and
prosecution.
The years 2013-14 were activity-filled
periods that included meetings of
anti-trafficking bodies and strategic
planning, capacity building for police
and boosting the gender focal point
system, womens livelihood skills
training, orientation on domestic
violence, and focus on childrens rights
through film showing, photo exhibits
and poster making. Community
sessions on childrens rights and
child protection have been held in
52 barangays. A total of 135 out-ofschool youth have undergone life skills
training sessions.
In mid-2014, public hearings on a
proposed GAD Code were capped by its
approval by the provincial board. This
was followed by a gender sensitivity
training workshop, orientationworkshop on GAD planning and
budgeting, and adoption of local
ordinances on mandatory registration
of births, deaths and marriages.
March 2015
Genuine birth certificates are a

safeguard against spurious travel
documents that aid and abet
trafficking. There is also need for
a comprehensive data base system
since the Inter-Agency Council on
Anti-Trafficking national trafficking
database does not translate into
provincial-level statistics. Pol
Ampatuan says the Child Protection
Working Group, a network of civil
society organizations (CSOs), can help
with this. A complete registration of
womens groups is being undertaken
with the Department of Interior and
Local Government so they can be
targeted for livelihood projects.
Role of women and organized
womens groups
The New Maguindanao Womens

Organization (NMWO) is a provincial
organization whose membership of
over a thousand is drawn from women
mayors and barangay captains, the
wives or First Ladies of mayors, and
other female LGU officials. NMWO
is led by Bai Jennah M. Lumawan,
also president of the Association
of Barangay Captains (ABC) in
Buluan municipality and sister of
the governor. The GAD Fund has
now veered away from prioritizing
mens concerns and offers women
livelihood skills training.
Bainot Kalanganan, organizer, Anak Kawagib (left) and Lubaida L. Manson,

President, Paglat Moro Womens Lead Organization (PMWLO) (right)
Lumawan also notes that where

men ruled the roost as local chief
executives in the past, since 201112, women have emerged as mayors
and local legislators: one out of four
municipal mayors is female. In the
past it was zero. The mayor of Paglat
municipality and the Association of
Barangay Captains president are both
women: Zulaika P. Langkuno and
Faijiah Mangelen, respectively.
The GAD Fund works only with a
bibingka (rice cakes) strategy: heat
above and fire below. Maguindanao
women in government are following
the above-mentioned kinship-based
organizing strategy that is probably
not unique to Maguindanao. But other
women in government are taking
the route of issue-based organizing
as in upland Upi municipality,

straddling the GO-NGO nexus with
an initial membership of 3,000 now
nearly double, coupling gender with
governance to amazing results (see
Sidebar on page 26).
The Paglat Moro Womens Lead
Organization (PMWLO) in Paglat
municipality with a membership of
240 Bangsamoro women is led by
Lubaida Litigan Manson with her
humor-filled accounts of members
erstwhile abject poverty (see Sidebar
on page 22).
While the NAP cum GAD Fund seeks
to secure lives one girl child, one
woman, one family at a time, its litmus
test lies in scope and scale: womens
organizing and empowerment in
communities. Maguindanao women
are rising to this challenge.
Role of NGOs and CSOs
Paglat municipality, with eight

barangays and a total population of
over 11,200 (2010 NSCB statistics)
may be among the provinces smaller
munisipyos but it leads in the GO-NGO/
CSO partnership that is essential for
NAP-cum-GAD to succeed.
Bai Jennah M. Lumawan, ABC President, Buluan (left) and Barbara T.
Guialel, SWO 2, Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (right)
March 2015
Anak Kawagib (AK) is a federation of

six youth organizations organized
23
The Paglat Moro Womens

Lead Organization (PMWLO)
The Paglat Moro Womens Lead Organization (PMWLO) has 240 members both
MNLF and MILF including some 35 widows with five to eight children. It is led
by Lubaida Litigan Manson, a sanitary inspector with the governments rural
health unit (RHU).
PMWLO participated in the drawing up of a womens situationer for the
NAP focusing on four concerns: health, education, economic, and water
and sanitation. PMWLO members live in barangays located around the
220,000-hectare Liguasan Marsh that straddles three provinces including
Maguindanao. Many families farm rice and other crops during the dry season
and fish during the wet season. But heavy rains trigger devastating floods,
disrupting normal daily activities such as childrens schooling.
Lubaida recalls a time, not too long ago, when many PMWLO members didnt
own cooking pots. They had to borrow clothes to attend a wake.
But starting 2012 onwards May palayok na nakasabit, nakakapag-enrol, alagaan
ng mabuti, may buntis patrol, health (services) pupunta sa kanila (There is a
cooking pot hanging in the kitchen, the kids are able to enroll, they are well
cared for, there is a pregnancy patrol, health services now come to them).
Lubaida was speaking of the changes initiated when over a hundred PMWLO
members joined the governments Pantawid program providing health and
education subsidies to poor families.
PMWLOs nexus with NAP has also provided skills training and livelihood
opportunities such as water lily weaving and fiber processing courtesy of
the provincial government and Villar Foundation. Sixty members of Rural
Improvement Clubs around the Liguasan Marsh area participated (PMWLO
women are also RIC members). The marsh abounds in water lily and water
hyacinth that can be processed and woven into mats, baskets, fans and
slippers. The British development agency Oxfam donated P1 M to PMWLO for
sanitary toilets and capital. Villar Foundation ordered a million woven mats
for Yolanda typhoon victims in Leyte. PMWLO members produced close to 400
mats earning them P56,000.
Their newfound earning power and capacity to create products functional
and beautiful come with a strong sense of self, and a desire to keep their
households, including toilets, clean. Some old problems are being addressed
but others remain, for instance, marketing of the womens woven crafts.
For another, when the rogue rebel group BIFF attacks, Paglat becomes an
evacuation zone, rice fields are abandoned, interrupting harvest and disrupting
livelihood. As well, there is a need to straighten up regional Pantawid
accounts and address the problem of delayed, reduced or missing remittances.
Nevertheless the PMWLO women led by Lubaida hope in a future that will
provide their children with basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, education and
health care.
24
by Kadtuntaya Foundation, Inc., and

supported by European development
agencies. Engaged in peace,
childrens rights and environmental
(particularly of Liguasan Marsh)
advocacies, AK is a major partner in
NAP. Paglat municipality has allocated
AK a spanking new modest structure
for its use. According to Bainot
Kalanganan, childrens organizer, AK
activities employ creative methods
such as film showing, photo exhibits,
theater skills training and others in
its community education sessions and
campaigns.
Similarly, Child Alert International
has helped NAP by training municipal
social welfare officers through 51
community sessions in evacuation
centers and host communities in
14 barangays, in conjunction with
the Commission on Human Rights
and the Philippine National Police.
Rural Improvement Clubs (RICs) have
served as the basic rural womens
organization for long decades now,
their vital presence felt once more
when the NAP tapped RICs for skills
training last year and other activities.
Still, the Maguindanao NAP needs to
reach out to more CSOs and NGOs for
greater impact and effectiveness.
Men as champions and support
staff
Gender and development is premised

on more equitable male-female
relations. If, as they say, charity
begins at home, advocacy of and
support for NAP-cum-GAD must start
with men in government. With Tunga
and Pol Ampatuan are young male
politicians who prioritize the needs
of their constituents, including and
especially, poor women.
The tragic circumstances surrounding
Gov. Esmael (Toto) Mangudadatus
gubernatorial bid and victory are
March 2015
assumed primary responsibility for

child care.
Radjah Buayan Mayor Zamzamin L. Ampatuan (left) and

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael (Toto) G. Mangudadatu (right)
known to most: election-related

violence that killed scores of people,
including his wife.
Gov. Mangudadatus eight-point
development agenda begins with
restoration of peace and order. He
believes that development cannot
take root and flourish without peace.
The absence of peace hits hardest the
most vulnerable: women, children,
elderly. In his third and final term
as Buluan mayor, Gov. Mangudadatu
undertook the building of market
stalls, 500 altogether, benefiting
mostly women, as well as livelihood
training, and micro-lending for
women.
The second point is transparent,
accountable and participative
governance. People who trust
government will not rebel, but when
there is armed conflict, women
are forced into the role of (sole)
breadwinner. This, says the governor,
is where womens empowerment
begins, followed by leadership,
entrepreneurial training and financial
literacy.
Another male gender champion
is Zamzamin Ampatuan, a former
student activist and civil engineering
graduate, who held various national
government posts before returning
March 2015
to Maguindanao and winning as

Radjah Buayan mayor in 2013. Radjah
Buayan was first to respond to the
provincial call for NAP localization in
municipalities. Proof of his hands-on
approach to governance is a weekly
religious leaders forum after Friday
prayers to consult with some 40
mosque leaders.
Affirmation of gender equality comes
easy to Zamzamin who grew up at the
knee of a revered grandmother who
held no formal position in politics but
had the skill and smarts to influence
male leaders and politicians in six
adjoining municipalities. This while
raising a brood of over ten children in
an unconventional household where
her husband was provider and also
Zamzamin says that half of Radjah

Buayans GAD fund will go to
livelihood programs for poor women
whom he witnessed, as barangay
councilor, as having too many
burdens with less resources, less
capacities (thus) with no income
and no leverage in decision making.
Womens economic empowerment
therefore is a cornerstone of the
municipalitys NAP-GAD program,
which will also encompass spiritual
values and will be mediated through
what he considers to be culturally
appropriate.
Lumpingan and the womens
and childrens center
A stately three-storey building, the

newly-inaugurated Women and
Childrens Center in Buluan, home
base of Gov. Mangudadatu, was built
with an P8 million from the national
government and double that amount
as provincial counterpart. Two
more storeys will soon be added to
the structure with the ground floor
designated for offices, and other floors
for livelihood training for women,
housing for trauma victims, a catering
business for self-sustainability; and
more.
Judith H. Anam, Kagawad, Bgy. Blensong, Upi (left) and Amelita A. Piang,
founder, UWFI
25
The Upi Womens Federation, Inc. (UWFI)

Upi is a first-class municipality in the southwestern uplands of Maguindanao,
with a population of nearly 45,500 (2010: National Statistics Office) in 23
barangays. Sixty percent of the population belong to the indigenous Teduray
tribe, and the remaining 40% are Moro (Maguindanao and Maranao) with a mix
of Christian.
Upi has scored remarkably in good governance (e.g., stopping a political
dynasty in its tracks and preserving harmony in a predominantly IP and
Muslim population) garnering numerous awards (e.g., Galing Pook) in the
process. But it is gender and its impact on good governance that shall be
highlighted here.
The GAD Fund was harnessed for womens empowerment in Upi municipality
years before the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security was
formulated. In 2004 the Upi Womens Federation, Inc. (UWFI) was formed to
empower women, according to Amelita Arancillo Piang, retired teacher and
UWFI founder. She is also wife to incumbent mayor Cesar Piang who firmly
supports womens equality and empowerment.
Womens organizing started in earnest in 2006 with GAD presidents (also called
GAD focal point officers) chosen at the barangay level to help ensure that the
5% GAD Fund is accessed not only at the municipal but also at the barangay
level. In 2014 Upi had a GAD Fund of P2.61 million. According to Judith Anam,
Bgy. Blensong Councilor, the barangays 2015 GAD Fund (with 500 GAD
members) stands at P123,726.
UWFI activities have included credit and livelihood training, e-learning, and
advocacy on trafficking and violence against women and children (VAWC) as
part of NAP. Livelihood training includes handicrafts, food processing, rubber
planting, upland rice (organic) farming, and dairy projects. In 2011 200 UWFI
members went on a Lakbay Aral (study tour) to the University of Southern
Mindanao for lecture-demonstrations in backyard gardening and duck-andgoat raising.
The workshop-seminar on VAWC had both the barangay GAD president and
the barangay chair (usually male) in attendance.
Remarkable as these efforts are, even more so is how UWFI women are
redefining basic notions of beauty, for one. Womens Month 2011 was marked
with a Bigatin na Mom contest (literally, heavyweight mom) with a minimum
weight requirement of 70 kilos for contestants; two years later the search
was for a Hot Sexy Mom with minimum age requirement of 45, effectively
challenging definitions of beauty according to age and looks and affirming that
big is beautiful and senior is sexy.
The clear impact of gender on governance in Upi is reflected in other ways.
First, half of the municipal council is female, and a fourth (six out of 23) of
barangay captains are women. Second, a non-confrontational approach to
domestic violence cases has saved a marriage relationship in at least eight
cases. The barangay captain and womens committee chair handle the
counseling and the offending husband is probed as to why he turned violent.
Cases rarely reach the police blotter. At the same time there is greater
awareness of the reality of domestic abuse.
26
Nearby is the modest Lumpingan

Center which prefigures what the
Womens Center can be. Lumpingan
is Maguindanao for sanctuary,
haven, and the center is a One-Shop
Resource Center with weekly services
from Technical Education Skills
Development Authority, the Overseas
Workers Welfare Authority or OWWA
and Philippine Overseas Employment
Authority, the Department of
Education and the Department of
Labor and Employment.
The road out of Mamasapano
Women barangay officials in Upi

redefining beauty and politics.
Bangsamoro women drawing life and
livelihood from the Liguasan Marsh.
Radjah Buayan women unlocking
their dormant potential. First Ladies
harnessing their power to turn
kinship from curse to blessing. These
are indicators that in Maguindanao,
gender is impacting governance in a
different way with NAP as key.
Public service not as plunder, profit
or rapacity. An end to political
dynasties as siphons of government
resources and purveyors of violence
and criminality. Governance as caring,
enabling, providing decent jobs and
building democratic institutions.
Politics and public spaces as a public
trust, a safe space, a haven: Lumpingan.
Gender and good governance is
not a pipe dream, it is taking root
in parts of Maguindanao in the
most impoverished places, among
a people bludgeoned by conflict.
Upi, Paglat, Buluan, the women of
Liguasan Marsh, Radjah Buayanare
showing that there is a way out of
Mamasapano, a way that must take
full account of women and make their
numbers count. Other paths have
been a dead-end. Its the womens
turn now.
March 2015
REFLECTION
The bigotry of power

By JENNIFER SANTIAGO ORETA
POWER HAS MANY FORMS, its
most common manifestation being the
physical superiority of one over the
other. Manny Pacquiaos popularity, to
a large extent, is due to the collective
glorification of this type of power.
to the tone and direction of the agendasetter. It is therefore naive to believe

that media only reports; there is no
theory-neutral interpretation of
events; information is reported from a
certain position and vantage point.
The ability to control and manipulate

resources to ones advantage is an
alternate type of this power, where
resources are used to supplant ones
limitations in physical strength. The
target outcome is the same for the
powerful A to dictate on and coerce
the powerless B to do things that
are beneficial to A. Manipulative
resources of power include wealth,
firearms, technology, even command of
the dominant language.
This is the crux of why political power

is much sought-after. In a country like
the Philippines, where the democratic
maturity of the people and institutions
remain wanting, whoever holds
power holds the capacity to determine
what is important and what should
be mainstreamed in the national
discourse. The powerful have always
set and shaped the political agenda.
The political arena is replete with

people exercising this type of power
from macho Congressmen, the English
only, please leader, the opulent rich,
and warlords-turned-politicians.
The other type of power is more latent,
less obvious, but more insidious and
dangerous. It is where the powerful
is able to dictate the political agenda,
and is able to convince the powerless
to believe that they have the same
agenda, even if in reality such agenda
is inimical to the interests of the
powerless. The exercise of this power
not only shapes the political discourse,
it muffles the agenda of others.
Access to media is a critical
component in the exercise of this
power. Influencing the media,
obviously, requires the calibrated
use of manipulative resources
language, technology, wealththat the
powerful has much of. Hence, neutral
information can be shaped according
March 2015
The peace process attempts to reverse this

traditional landscape of power by using the
mechanism of the peace table.
It attempts to give power to the
marginalized by allowing them to shape
and dictate the agenda. Voices that
have been silenced by generations of
neglect and systematic discrimination
are surfaced and regarded with equal,
if not privileged, importance as a way
of leveling the playing field.
This has been the process of peacemaking. It recognizes the asymmetric
power relations between the voiceless
and the dominant group, puts it out in
the open, and challenges them in the
arena of open discourse. It reframes
the focus of power. Rather than looking
at power as a tool of the powerful
to dictate and take advantage of the
powerless, it is seen as a potential
instrument of the powerless to get a
fair share of the pie. It opens debate
on the inequality and injustice of
the status quo. By giving voice to the
powerless, the peace process reverses
the power roles which those who

have long held power are not ready to
yield to.
This, to a large extent, explains the
negative reaction of the traditional
power holders to the peace process
with the Bangsamoro. The agenda, as
articulated by the powerless group,
threatens their power base and their
long held position in society. The
viciousness of their attack and the
ferocity of their antagonism are clear
reflections of their fears and anxiety
should the status quo be altered.
The powerful bloc will always try to
prevent a change in the status quo.
They are currently in the process of
wrestling control of the peace process
by pushing it into the arena they know
best, where the manipulative resources
are at their beck and call, and where
the powerless can never get an upper
hand.
It is critical for the peace process to
resist this and get back in control. One
way is to wrestle it out in the public
sphere by providing arguments in the
public debate that are more convincing,
more compelling, and are harder to
negate. The other alternative is for
the powerless to get a more powerful
supporter that can equal, if not dwarf,
the capacity of the traditional power
holders, and generate an outpouring of
public support that the power holders
cannot ignore.
It has been a mighty struggle between
the powerless and the powerful. The
powerless must hold fast and not
lose sight of the prize in this massive
struggle for control of the peace
process.
27
Sr. Insp. Michelle Ng-Bonto
The warden is a teacher

A jail warden pays it forward by providing an opportunity for her ASG, JI, RSM and NPA
wards to get a high school diploma.
By MICHELLE ANN RAMIREZ
WHEN FACED WITH A DIFFICULT

SITUATION, giving up becomes an
enticingly easy choice. Walking hastily

out of a tough situation could offer the
best option, especially when going the
extra mile is too painful to consider.
But for the warden of the Bureau of Jail
Management and Penologys Special
Care Area (SICA)-1 Facility at Camp
Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, theres
no mountain too high to conquer.
Difficult though a situation may be,
there are ways to get around it.
Jail Senior Inspector Michelle NgBonto has 362 high-risk detainees
under her care. An educator at heart,
she is working to give the inmates an
alternative future by offering the
Alternative Learning System (ALS)
literacy program at the detention
center. A literacy mapping of her
wards showed that out of 306 who
responded to her survey, 160 are
prospective ALS students. Nineteen of
them have had no formal education.
Teaching here is not easy to
undertake. The SICA-1 facility
houses inmates who are charged
with terrorism-related cases such
28
as bombings. The majority of its

residents are suspected members of
the Abu Sayyaf Group, while some are
alleged members of the New Peoples
Army (NPA), Jemaiah Islamiah, and
Rajah Solaiman Movement, among
others. At least 219 of the inmates are
Muslims.
Winning the hearts and minds of her
wards is difficult, but the 39-year old
Michelle is undaunted. If you get to
talk to them, theyll say that they have
their reasons. Maybe, at that time,
in their frame of mind, that was the
only thing they could do. But it got me
thinking maybe, if theyre given an

education, they will start to consider
other alternatives in their decisionmaking.
Overcoming hurdles
Her journey with SICA-1 inmates

began when she was still a legislative
liaison officer of the BJMP. After
securing the necessary permission
from National Headquarters, Sr. Insp.
Bonto began spending weekends, her
supposed time for her family, at SICA1. I come here once or twice a month,
and sit with the leaders, just talking,
March 2015
asking them how they are. I bring

food, if I can. Im locked up with them
in the hallway for three to four hours
because the guard cannot leave the
door open just for me to be safe.
It was difficult making the inmates
comfortable with her presence. It has
always been challenging to deal with
high-risk inmates. These are inmates
who, in one way or another, have
experienced oppression in varying
forms. They distanced themselves
from persons in uniform because of
their experience with oppression.
Their encounters with prejudice
are intertwined with their religion
and culture and the level of distrust
[towards me was] high. It took more
than a year before they opened up.
The hesitation of the inmates was
another roadblock. They couldnt
believe that an educational program
would be run in this facility. It
was hard for them to believe that
somebody would care, especially a
non-Muslim like me.
Eventually, the leaders of the inmates
were able to see Michelles sincerity.
For the chairperson of the Muslim
block of SICA-1 (who refuses to be
named for security reasons), Sr.
Insp. Bonto is different from all the
researchers theyve met. Regular
iyong pagdalaw niya, bihira iyong ganoon.
Napakalaking sakripisyo na pumupunta

siya dito. Nakita namin iyong dedikasyon
niya. Gusto niyang tumulong, pero hindi
siya nagte-take advantage. (She would
visit us regularly, which is rare. It was
such a big sacrifice for her to come
here. We saw her dedication. She
really wants to help, but she never
takes advantage.)
Making the inmates open up to the
program is just one step. Encouraging
them to believe in her as a teacher
is another hurdle. The challenge as
an educator in sharing knowledge
to the high-risk inmates is for them
to see that people do really care for
their welfare. Another factor that I
find challenging is that the inmates
naturally look for a mentor or leader
stronger than they are. They prefer to
learn from someone who knows, than
from someone on a par with them.
So, I make sure Im prepared with my
lessons.
Walking the talk
Sr. Insp. Bontos regard for the

importance of education is deeply
rooted in her experience as a working
student and being a recipient of
various scholarship grants.
I came from humble beginnings.
I used to sell biko, palitaw, kutsinta,
sapin-sapin in the streets of Panghulo,
Obando, Bulacan, from grade 4 to first

year college. My mom did the cooking.
Instead of buying me new skirts, my
mother dyed my old skirts to make
them look new.. I couldnt afford to
have a Tetoron blouse so I wore a
complimentary shirt with a pig logo
that my aunt used as a giveaway to her
palengke suki (regular customers), she
recalls.
The difficulty did not stop Bonto from
having a stellar academic career. Aside
from graduating class valedictorian
in elementary school, Bonto was
accelerated from third year high
school to first year college. She took
up bachelor of arts major in political
science at the Philippine Christian
University in Manila.
In 1996, she entered government
service as a clerk/stenographer of
the Legal Service Unit of BJMP-NCR.
I was looking for a job that would
allow me to have full-time work with
an opportunity to study at night. I got
into BJMP after undergoing the Public
Safety Basic Recruit Course.
It was while working at the BJMP
that she became a recipient of the
Civil Service Commission Local
Scholarship Program-Bachelors
Degree Completion (LSP-BDC). The
scholarship grant allowed the student
to go on a one-year paid study
Classroom behind bars.
March 2015
29
Accreditation and Equivalency

(ALS A&E) course under the
Tagapangalaga Ko, Guro Ko program
of the BJMP, in partnership with the
Department of Education (DepEd)
Bureau of Alternative Learning
System. The launch was graced by
Felizardo M. Serapio, Jr. from the
office if the President, and BJMP-NCR
Regional Director JSSupt. Romeo S.
Vio.
Doing board work in class.
leave from work. Not only did the

scholarship help Michelle graduate
cum laude in 2000, it also enabled
her to get an additional 18 units of
education subjects to qualify for the
Licensure Exam for Teachers (LET)
which she passed the same year.
That same year, Michelle took up
bachelor of laws at Manila Law College
and graduated class valedictorian.
In 2009, she received a scholarship
grant on Strengthening Leadership
thru Innovative Jurisprudence and
Responsive Citizenship under the USPhilippines Exchange Program funded
by the US State Department through
the Michigan State University, in
partnership with Xavier University in
Cagayan de Oro.
Today, Sr. Insp. Bonto isnt showing
any sign of stopping her pursuit to
learn more as she completes her
thesis for her master of arts in special
education, major in developmental
disabilities at St. Paul College-Manila.
Giving the blessings back
Her commitment to be of service

inspired her to stay in government
30
service, particularly at BJMP, for 19

years. I probably have high levels
of idealism, she says. I love the
government so muchI became
what I am right now because of
what I got from the government.
Heeding the call to become an
educator while being a civil servant
was easy for Michelle. It is something
that her mentors have long ingrained
in her through their examples.
Aside from my family, my teachers
are my heroes. I competed in quiz
bees in tattered clothes. My teachers
nurtured me and made me see the
difference between a dream and a
vision. They made me see education
as my ticket out of poverty. My
mentors made me realize my
potentials. They have blessed me
with their gifts, now its my turn to
be a blessing to others.
Opening doors for learning
To prepare for the education program

in SICA-1, Bonto sought accreditation
as an ALS Instruction Manager. In
July 2013, she launched the
Alternative Learning System
According to DepEds website, the

ALS is a parallel learning system
in the Philippines that provides a
practical option to the existing
formal instruction. It includes
both the non-formal and informal
sources of knowledge and skills.
ALS has two major programs: Basic
Literacy Program, and Continuing
Education Program-Accreditation
and Equivalency (A&E). Both
programs are modular and
flexible.
With the support of the inmates
leaders, the program had an initial
enrollment of 36 learners. Eleven
of them were enrolled in lower
elementary and 25 in the secondary
level. Twenty-eight of the enrollees
are suspected members of the Abu
Sayyaf Group, four are alleged
members of the NPA, three are
members of the Sputnik gang, and one
is an alleged member of the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Classes are held twice a week with
Michelle and other assistant teachers
devoting two to four hours per
session, depending on the module
and the difficulty of learning. I
teach topics that I think they need.
Sometimes, they request a lesson
on a topic that they had a hard time
with. They can take their modules
with them. Sometimes, we do seat
work and check them the next
session.
March 2015
Reaping the rewards
Bonto sees to it that she shows respect

for the inmates culture and beliefs.
In order for me to be understood, I
need to understand their religion first.
Even with the way I dress, especially
when I teach. I try to learn the things
that I think are important to them.
Aside from my
family, my teachers
are my heroes.
With ALS, the inmates are introduced
to different perspectives they werent
aware of before. One inmate, Najer
(not his real name), who has been in
SICA-1 for 13 years, shares: Ngayon,
kahit paano, natututo kami unti-unti
tungkol sa buhay. Dahil sa ALS, mayroon
kaming nalalaman na impormasyon,
mga kaugalian na di namin alam dati.
Nasasabi sa amin iyong mga nangyayari
sa gobyerno at sa labas kahit nandito
kami. (Somehow we are learning little
by little about life. Because of ALS,
we now have access to information,
things we didnt know about before.
We are informed about whats
happening in government and outside
even if we are here.)
The hard work and commitment paid
off when 12 of the first ALS learners
were able to pass the Elementary
and High School Equivalency
Exams in April 2014. To celebrate
their achievement, SICA-1 held a
graduation ceremony attended by the
relatives of the graduating class.
Warden Bonto made sure that the
inmates would experience the
ambiance of a proper graduation.
DepEd lent us togas. The good
March 2015
Undersecretary Serapio donated shoes

for the inmates. I went to Marikina to
buy the shoes using paper cutouts of
their feet.
Aside from the small victory, some
good things have happened to keep
her motivated. Before he was released
from detention, Amer (not his real
name), one of the first ALS graduates
who was acquitted of the charges
against him, informed her that a
college was already waiting for him to
enroll in the coming school year.
Having a supportive family also keeps
Michelle grounded. It helps that her
husband, who is also an officer at
BJMP, understands that Michelle puts
her heart in everything she does.
While being a warden may seem like
a 24/7 duty, Michelle is able to retreat
to a home made cozy by the music of
her children.
I am the mother of two potentially
gifted kids. Imagine the challenge we
face as husband and wife on how to
keep our two children focused, with
their intellect, curiosity, restlessness,
and energy. Our home is adorned with
their oil paintings on canvass and the
music that fills our house is from their
singing, piano and drum playing.
Michelle Bonto doesnt know where
she gets all the energy to juggle
being a wife and mother, teacher
and warden. Im able to do all those
things maybe because I love what Im
doing, she smiles.
Increasing numbers, growing
needs
As evidence of the success of the first

ALS in SICA-1, the number of enrollees
for the second batch of students
has increased. Today, SICA-1 has 13
learners for elementary, and 31 for
high school.
Ruy (not his real name), who

passed the High School Equivalency
Exam, said Marami kaming natutuhan.
Lalo iyong mga bagay na hindi namin
napag-aralan sa labas kagaya ng public
speaking. Mayroon din kaming alam
kaunti tungkol sa batas. (We have
learned a lot, especially about things
that we did not learn when we were
outside like public speaking. We
now also know a little bit about the
law.)
While evidently a measure of the
programs success, the increase in
the number of learners has raised
the demand for the modules and
increased expenses. Initially, Bonto
shouldered the reproduction of the
modules. But as the need has grown,
she has sought the help of good
samaritans. In 2014, she was able to
raise funds for the reproduction of 30
sets each of the ALS A&E modules for
elementary and high school.
The initial help was enough to
cover the needs of the current
learners. However, there will be
future enrollees whose education
will have to be funded. And Michelle
has bigger dreams for her wards.
While she acknowledges the
limitations, she wants to provide
access to college education for the
detainees who have passed the
secondary level.
Beyond SICA-1, she also dreams
of providing former inmates with
an aftercare program, Beyond
wardenship, I would like to be a part
of an organization or program that
will help cater to the needs of
released inmates and their families
during the transition phase as they
integrate into mainstream society.
An impossible dream? Sr. Insp.
Michelle Bonto relies on her faith
that God will provide.
31
Field Notes from the North:
Journeying with CPLA

women integrees
By MA. LOURDES VENERACION-RALLONZA
ON DECEMBER 4, 2014, I left for a trip to the north
to speak to women to uncover a collective narrative

that took off from the story of conflict and unravel the
evolving tale of peace. After over a 10-hour night ride
from Manila, I greeted the sunrise from the gates of the
5th Infantry Division (5ID) in Gamu, Isabela.
I was excited to meet and immediately jump into the
conversation with the women integrees from the
Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CPLA). I saw most of
them huddled together as I entered the hall. They were
wearing their fatigue uniform complete with shiny belt
buckles and hair neatly fixednot much different from all
other women soldiers I have met except, probably, having
32
physical features that are distinct to Cordillera women square facial shape with deep dark eyes, firm but refined
stance, strong and yet not masculinized.
I walked towards the front of the stage, tempering my
excitement for I was aware of the fact that I was an
outsidersomeone they were only meeting for the first
time and someone who came all the way from Manila just
to talk to them. (I mean, on a regular day, who does that?!)
Thus, like any other conscientious researcher, I tried to
apply a more non-intrusive method of engagement
something I learned during the course of my past field
work from an artist-colleaguethat of using art as a form
of expression.
March 2015
As part of the fulfillment of the peace agreement

between the government and the CPLA, 168 CPLA
members or their next of kin have been integrated
into the 5ID of the Philippine Army, 20 of whom were
women.
Journey to integration: Hand/arm drawing
Most of the women integrees present were from Kalinga

(Tanudan and Tabuk) and the Mountain Province. The
first integree was integrated in 2002 as a substitute for
her CPLA uncle while the others were integrated in 2012
(29%) and 2013 (65%). Eighty one percent (81%) of the
participants belonged to the 21 to 27 age range; fifty three
(53%) were college graduates, forty two percent (42%) were
college undergraduates, and six percent (6%) just finished
high school.
The indigenous peoples of the Cordilleras, particularly,
those from Kalinga, are known for their material culture.
One of the more prominent ones is the practice of fatok
or hand-tapped tattooing. For Kalingan women, fatok
are mostly hand-tapped on their arms portraying a
narrative of indigenous notions of beauty inscribed on
their skin. Borrowing from this idea, the CPLA women
integrees were asked to trace their own hands/arms
and draw the story on why they integrated into the Armed
Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Most, if not all, referred to their culturesymbols such as

the gong/gansa that was integral to their celebrations and
tribal feasts were common in many depictions. One even
said that, for her, it is a symbol her integration: Gong ang
simbolo ng pag-integrate ko kasi may peace na (The gong is
my symbol of my integration because there is now peace).
(above)
March 2015
Another explained: Ang mga ninuno namin ay gumagamit

ng spear at kalasag (Our elders use a spear and shield) to
protect themselves and the communitysound of a gong,
always a happy occasionwe live a simple life, our products
corn and bananas
Gender also figured in symbols through the shield
signifying warrior men and tapis (skirt) symbolizing
women. One woman integree shared that her design
represented both her past and present: Mga kulay ng
Cordilleratapis at shieldsun ay ang hope (The colors of
the Cordilleraskirt and shield...sun is for hope...) (above)
Many also drew their environmentthe mountains, rice
terraces/fields, the Chico River, and waterfalls as life-giving
resources that have sustained their tribes. Side by side
with these images were signifiers of development such as
buildings and schools.
Ito ang inspiration korice terraces, waterfallsito yung

lugar namin, dalawang bundokito ang dahilan kung bakit ako
nanditokabuhayan (This is my inspirationrice terraces,
33
water fallsthis is our place, two mountains...this is why

Im herefor livelihood...)(previous page, lower right)
Ito ang mga ninuno naminit signifies yung kanilang art,
yung products...yung waterfalls namin ay parang beauty
spot namin, yung mga pinupuntahan ng mga familiesito ang
kagandahan ng culture namin. Pumasok ako sa AFP dahil sa
aking family (This signifies the art of our ancestors, their
products...our waterfalls are like our beauty spots, where
families go...this is the beauty of our culture. I entered the
AFP for my family.) (below)
Ngayon ay modernize nalevel up na ang mga bahaysumali

ako para mas level up ang pamumuhay namin para di hanggang
doon na lang. (Our homes are more modern. I joined the
program so our lives would level up.)
Ang bahay ko ay nasa palayannag-aral kami para hindi lang
kami hanggang baryo langang tubig ay para dumaloy ang
buhay parang ang pag-sali ko sa integrees ay para tulong din
sa pamilya dalawa kaming na-integrate, yung isa ay kapatid
kong lalaki mas bata sa akin (Our nipa huts used to be on
our rice terraces.. We went to school to improve our lives...
Water symbolizes the flow of my life as an integree. Now
I can help my family... My younger brother and I are both
integrees).
And one interconnected culture, conflict memory, and
peace.
Red represents war and blue represents peaceIto ang
tinatawag naming kalasag which represents family at CPLA
nakipag-away datitapis represents CBA members, iyong
mga elders din namin na naging CPLAito ay joined together
para makamit ang peace through OPAPP na sila po ang
tumulong sa amin para makamit ang peace kaya kami na34
integrate dito sa AFP (baril as symbol)yung anahaw leaf

ay iyong na-attain nating lahat which is peace (This is the
shield, it represents our CPLA family, which used to fight...
The skirt represents CBA members, our elders who joined
the CPLA. They are joined together to obtain peace with
the help of OPAPP. OPAPP helped us integrate into the AFP,
symbolized by the gun. The anahaw leaf represents the
peace that we have all attained). (below)
This exercise, I observed, brought to the surface, the

common themes of culture, their history from conflict
to peace, and the importance of their families and
communities as factors that influenced their decision to
integrate.
According to the pre-activity survey, on reasons for
integrating in the AFP, 53% of the respondents answered
that they did so to be able to help the country, others and
the AFP; 24% responded that they integrated in order
to have a job; 12 % replied that they wanted to help the
country; and the remaining 12% was because they were
beneficiaries of the program.
A day in the lives of women integrees: Theater
For the second activity, the women integrees were grouped

into two and were asked to show a snapshot of their day in
5ID through a theatrical performance.
The first group presented their daily routine consisting of
chores, exercise, work, and personal things that they like
doing. The other group, on the other hand, began with
showing their experience in the application processthe
test they took and their being selected in the program.
They also showed the tasks they do and even hinted that
women integrees are given equal training and chances in
5ID.
March 2015
As regards their benefits as women integrees, the responses

were: equal benefits with regulars (47%), salary (24%),
Philheath (18%), and general benefits (12%). Most of the
women integrees (76.4%) also responded that they are
generally okay or treated equally when asked about their
condition inside 5ID. The respondents also said that there
is no discrimination between women and men; though
there was mention of only single women soldiers being
allowed to undergo Training and Doctrine Command
(TRADOC) outside of 5ID. In the case of their barracks, the
respondents said their facilities are enough for them (i.e. 23
bunk beds, four toilet and bath areas).
I sat down with the women integrees after their respective
performances and asked about what they shared. During
our conversation, most, if not all, affirmed that women and
men are treated equally. They go through the same tasks
and are given the same opportunities.
depicted themselves, as women integrees, side by side each

other, acting as stewards of the environment and peace.
The second group performed the tanggi, a traditional
Kalinga dance performed by women as the foreground
of their collage. The collage represented the culture of
peace using the symbol of the tapis and the colors of the
Philippine Army with men and women from the various
tribes in the region working together to achieve it.
A very prominent feature of their collage was a drawing of
a male soldier and an indigenous womanIto ang simbolo
ng integration, kasama at kaisa tungo sa kapayapaan (This
symbolizes integration. We are united in our pursuit of
peace), the group said.
There were observations that single women were sent to

trainings outside of 5ID while the married ones had their
training only in Gamu. However, they did not see anything
wrong with this practice. It is simply a part of how things
are.
The women also said that CPLA integrees were not
discriminated against since they went through the same
process as the regular recruits. But, according to the
oldest woman integree in the group, discrimination was
felt during the first batch of integration in 2002 when the
integrees then did not finish school before they became
soldiers.
At the end of the session, I asked them if they had any wish
list they looked at each other and one said that she hopes
that they will also be given the opportunity to become
officers someday.
Women integrees in formation
Reflections
As the day came to an end, the women integrees said that

they enjoyed the activity: Masaya, maam (We had fun...)
and Sana mayroon pa ulit (I wish we could do this again)
were the common answers. I was all well and good
each learning from and with each other. Sisterhood was
apparent, no opposition, just affirmations.
Weaving the narrative of women making peace
For the final activity, the women integrees were asked

how they see themselvesindigenous women in the AFP
as agents of peace in the Cordilleras through a collage
depiction narrated through Cordilleran song or dance.
Of course, once again, just like any other conscientious

researcher, I was aware that one day is not enough to gain
deeper understanding about who these women integrees
are. I mean, I know where they came from but I do not
know what the conflict history of their community was.
The first group explained their collage through an ulalim,

a form of story-telling that depicts narratives of heroism
and adventures of the Kalinga people. At the base of
their collage are the six provinces of CAR and above it are
drawings of their shared environmentthe Chico River,
water falls, rice terraces, forests, and mountains. They also
I know why they said they integrated but I do not know

the reason behind their CPLA parents/relatives decision
to have them integratedcould there have been any
difference? I know I needed more time to understand but it
was also time to goTyphoon Ruby already made landfall
and we needed to get back in Manila.
March 2015
35
UPDATES
From the Peace Tables

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) continues to build
on the recent gains of the peace process towards its goal of shared peace and prosperity
for everyone in the country.
By MARC SIAPNO
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
GPH and MILF chief negotiators sign the Implementing

Guidelines for decommissioning of MILF weapons and
combatants, 30 January 2015, Kuala Lumpur witnessed
by Hayder Berk, chair Independent Decommissioning
Body (left) and Tengku Dato AB Ghafar Tengku
Mohamed, Malaysian facilitator (center)
FOLLOWING THE HISTORIC SIGNING of the
Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) on

March 2014, the government and MILF embarked on the
implementation stage of the peace pact, with the passage
of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in Congress as one of
its primary components.
As a gesture of strong support to the legislative measure,
the draft BBLthe legal translation of the CABwas
personally turned over by President Benigno Aquino III to
the leaders of both houses of Congress on September 2014.
The Senate and the House of Representatives conducted
over 40 public hearings and consultationsboth in their
36
respective chambers and in different provincesaimed

at improving the bill and making the process even more
inclusive, reportedly the most number ever held for the
passage of a law.
However, as both chambers neared the culmination of
public hearings and consultations on the BBL, tragedy
struck in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, on January 25,
2015, claiming nearly 70 lives from all sides, including
civilians. Congressional deliberations on the BBL were
postponed and the target for passing the BBL has been
moved from March to June 2015.
Commitment to peace
In a broadcast address in February, President Aquino

assured the nation that justice and accountability will
be exacted for the tragedy, while also reaffirming the
administrations commitment to peace.
To all those working with us towards peace: We are
fully committed to continuing the fight, President
Aquino said. And I say to those opposed to our
objective, especially those who resort to violence,
mark my words: you will feel the sharpened and
strengthened might of a unified Filipino nation.
Let us all remain focused on our primary goal:
a widespread and lasting peace, the President
added.
March 2015
Both the government and the MILF have reaffirmed their

commitment to the peace process.
Normalization program
Alongside the political process of the creation of

Bangsamoro, a normalization process will be jointly
implemented by the government and MILF to pave the
MILFs return to peaceful, productive lives.
On September 2014, the GPH and MILF peace panels
formalized the bodies and mechanisms that will roll
out the normalization process. These include the
Joint Normalization Committee, the Independent
Decommissioning Body, and the Transitional Justice and
Reconciliation Committee.
These efforts affirm the commitment to work on the
gradual decommissioning or turnover of MILF forces and
weapons, alongside the provisions for socio-economic
development and transitional justice and reconciliation.
Bangsamoro Development Plan
A larger socio-economic program called the Bangsamoro

Development Plan (BDP) was also formally launched
on November 2014. Formulated by the MILF leadership
through its socio-economic groupthe Bangsamoro
Development Agencythe BDP is a six-year development
plan aimed at providing a medium- and long-term vision
and strategy for the recovery and development of the
Bangsamoro areas.
Envisaged to have two phases, the BDP will cover the
period from 2014 to 2020 that shall build on the gains of
BDAs operations, including achievements of the recent
Sajahatra Bangsamoro program.
The Sajahatra Bangsamoro, meant to jumpstart the initial
dividends of peace after the signing of the Framework
Agreement on the Bangsamoro, continues to be rolled
out in Bangsamoro communities since it was launched on
February 2013. Jointly implemented by both government
and MILF, the program has been extended to June 2015.
As of November 2014, the Terms of Reference for CT4T

had already been agreed upon by both the GPH and MILF
panels.
Moro National Liberation Front

(MNLF)
UNDER A SINGLE FRAMEWORK of the CAB, the
government continues to engage the MNLF and the

Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), through its
Peace Committee for the Southern Philippines (PCSP),
despite the postponement of the fifth session of the
Tripartite Review Process on the 1996 Final Peace
Agreement supposedly set in 2013. Since its assumption
to chairmanship of OIC-PCSP, Egypt has engaged with the
government to discuss the developments on the peace
tables with both Moro Frontsthe MILF and the MNLF.
One of the major strides in the Mindanao peace process
is the effort of the OIC, through its Special Envoy,
to activate the mechanism called the Bangsamoro
Coordinating Forum (BCF), which aims to serve as a
platform for discussion and dialogue between the two
Moro Fronts to narrow down their differences and
consolidate their efforts in the achievement of the
Bangsamoro aspiration.
To date, two rounds of BCF meetings have been
conducted in Manila. Both produced significant results
and reiterated the commitment of both MNLF and MILF
to peace.
Consistent with the inclusivity approach of government
to a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the
Bangsamoro question on the right to self-governance, the
GPH, through its legislature. invited the MNLF to attend
a hearing on the BBL in January 2015. True to their word,
the factions of MNLF-Sema and MNLF-Alonto appeared in
Congress and put forth to the lawmakers their positions
on the BBL.
Preparation for transition
Communist Party of the Philippines/New

Peoples Army/National Democratic Front
(CPP/NPA-NDF)
Key moves have also been made to prepare for the

transition from the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM) to the Bangsamoro, particularly with
the creation of the Coordination Team for the Transition
(CT4T).
Towards the end of 2014, there were indications on the

part of the CPP/NPA/NDF of their readiness to resume
the peace talks with the government. Such signals are
welcome to the government which remains hopeful
about the peace process with the communist rebels.
March 2015
37
The GPH however, continues to reiterate that should the

talks resume, they must be time-and-agenda-bound, with
a clear set of doables that can be achieved within the
remaining term of President Aquino. Most importantly,
the peace negotiations should have a clear agenda on
ceasefire or at least a lessening of the violence on the
ground.
Cordillera Bodong Administration Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army

(CBA-CPLA)
THE MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT (MOA)
between the government and the CBA-CPLA signed in

Malacaang on July 4, 2011, continues to be implemented
towards the completion of commitments on the final
disposition of arms and forces of the CBA-CPLA and its
transformation into a potent socio-economic unarmed
force.
The governments partnership w ith the group has
encouraged the formation of peoples organizations
(PO) in the Cordillera that are now pursuing legitimate
enterprises. These POs are assisted by their respective
provincial governments using the framework of the
Department of Social Welfare and Developments
Sustainable Livelihood Program through CommunityDriven Enterprise Development.
Former CPLA members and next-of-kin are also provided
opportunities for socio-economic reintegration through
integration into the Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP) and employment as forest guards/forest protection
officers under the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR). Communities also reap
the gains of peace through community development
projects implemented by the Department of Interior and
Local Government (DILG), Department of Health, the
Department of Education, and local government units of
the Cordillera.
For the National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and
Security (NAP WPS), 15 CPLA women integrees in
the 5th Infantry Division of the AFP in Gamu, Isabela
were provided a venue to reflect on their experiences,
recognize their needs, and strengthen their participation
in peacebuilding processes.
38
Communications and advocacy work also continued

on building capacities of partner agencies to utilize
techniques and technologies to surface the gains of peace
in the region, and on strengthening coordination and
collaboration towards regional goals.
Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng
ManggagawaPilipinas/Revolutionary
Proletarian Army/Alex Boncayao Brigade
Tabara Paduano Group (RPM-P/RPA/ABB
TPG)
STILL ON THE ROAD TO PEACE, the last quarter
of 2014 was dedicated to capacitating the ground and

sustaining a more conducive environment for bringing
about closure to the armed conflict with RPM-P/RPA/
ABB TPG.
Profiling of the 100 community peace dividends has
started to ensure that the OPAPP-Philhealth program
is made available to 10,000 community members; and
the OPAPP-CHED scholarship program can be accessed
by around 200 students in the said communities in the
coming school year. The current 138 TPG members
employed as forest guards/forest protection officers
under DENR are now enrolled under the OPAPPPhilhealth co-sponsored program. The mechanism has
been put in place to make the OPAPP-CHED scholarship
program more accessible to qualified dependents of TPG
members.
To address the security concerns of the TPG members,
an interim coordinating mechanism was jointly set up
by the AFP and the Philippine National Police to ensure
open communication lines during emergency situations.
Coordination meetings have also been conducted with
the AFP to discuss the security arrangements of the TPG
in preparation for the disposition of forces.
Together with the provincial government of Negros
Occidental and the TPG, the alternative to the
settlement sites in Bagondon, San Carlos and Villacin,
Cadiz Citywhich were found to be within protected
areashave been identified in Barangay Palampas, San
Carlos City and Barangay 11 (Gawahon), Victorias City,
respectively.
March 2015
NEWS BRIEFS
Women peace leaders laud Pope Francis call for greater women participation
MANILA Two of the top women leaders in the peace process extolled Pope
Francis call for greater women participation and representation in society

when he spoke to the Filipino youth at the University of Santo Tomas on
Sunday, January 18.
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos Deles and

Government of the Philippines chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer both
said that they love the pope especially for championing the rights of women.
In his attention to the peripheries, he did not miss the women, Deles said.
Its so important that he notes that men are a factor in the problem.
In his speech during the meeting with Filipino youth, Pope Francis noted the
lack of women representation. Women have much to tell us in todays society.
Sometimes, we are too machistas (chauvinistic) and we dont allow enough
space for women, the pontiff said.
Women can see things from a different angle [from] us, with a different eye.
Women are able to pose questions we men are unable to understand, Pope
Francis added, responding to 12-year old Glyzelle Palomar, a street kid who
related how her life has been exposed to the ills of drugs and prostitution.
Coronel-Ferrer noted Pope Francis compassion. He is with us in our struggle for peace and justicein Mindanao, in our
everyday life, among the poor and dispossessed in our society.
Clinton lauds PH for gender-inclusive peace process

In a speech at Georgetown University in Washington, former United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
last December lauded the country for its gender-inclusive peace process led by Teresita Quintos Deles and Miriam
Coronel-Ferrer. The two women were cited by Clinton for making inclusivity the guiding principle in peace negotiations
with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has resulted in the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the
Bangsamoro (CAB), the final political settlement ending one of the longest internal conflicts in Southeast Asia. The
proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, the agreements legal iteration, is currently under deliberation in both chambers of
Congress.
Consider what has happened recently in the Philippines, Clinton said. Hope for peace was all but gone when two
strong women, Teresita Quintos Deles and Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, took over the negotiations. They made inclusivity
their mantra. And thanks greatly to their efforts, finally a peace was brokered in a historic deal.
Clinton shared the story of the Philippine peace process with women peace leaders from various countries who were
gathered at Georgetowns Institute of Women, Peace, and Security, and emphasized the important role of women in
peace-building around the globe, noting that with women involved in the peace process, entire societies enjoy better
outcomes, and often-overlooked issues[such as] human rights, individual justice, national reconciliation, economic
renewalare often brought to the forefront.
Clinton also said that women leaders, it has been found, are good at building coalitions across ethnic and sectarian lines
and speaking up for other marginalized groups Its important to underscore this overriding fact: Women are not just
victims of conflict. They are agents of peace and agents of change.
March 2015
39
OPAPP, PCW to mainstream women in peace concerns in govt

MANILA The Office of the Presidential Adviser on
the Peace Process (OPAPP) and Philippine Commission

on Women (PCW) signed a circular in October 2014 that
aims to ensure that concerns on peace and women are
better integrated in government programs and services
in conflict-affected areas.
Joint Memorandum Circular 2014-0 makes the
Philippines a global pioneer and model in mainstreaming
and institutionalizing in the government bureaucracy
the empowerment and protection of women in conflictaffected areas through the National Action Plan on
Women, Peace, and Security (NAP-WPS) and the
intensified implementation of the Magna Carta on Women.
Women have borne the brunt of decades of conflict, and change must begin with them. There can be no healing and
wholeness of our body politic if women remain broken, insecure, and violated, said Presidential Adviser on the Peace
Process Teresita Quintos Deles.
The Joint Memorandum Circular reflects a broader policy of peace building which we hope will be a lasting legacy of
this administration, Deles told the guests coming from national government agencies, local government units, civil
society groups, and international development organizations at a Forum in Quezon City.
The Philippines is the first country in Asia to formulate and adopt a NAP-WPS to operationalize its commitment to the
United Nations Security Council Resolutions on women, peace and security.
OPAPP and PCW are co-chairs of the steering committee in the implementation of the National Action Plan.
EU Delegation to the Philippines launches the EU Peace Journalism Awards

The Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines
and its partners launched the first European Union Peace
Journalism Awards on 10 October 2014 in Cotabato City.
The EU Peace Journalism Awards is a contribution to
supporting the peace process and a recognition of the
role Philippine journalists can play in peace-building,
Ambassador Ledoux said.
Joining Ambassador Ledoux in the EU Peace Journalism Awards Launch are OPAPP Peace Adviser Teresita Quintos Deles,
Bangsamoro Transition Commission Chair Mr. Mohagher Iqbal. THE OPAPP, MILF, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue,
National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Mindanao State University
Iligan Institute of Technology, Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism Ateneo de Manila University, The
Photojournalists Center of the Philippines and philstar.com are partners of the EU in the award.
The EU Peace Journalism Awards campaign will run until May 2015. It is open to all Philippine journalists as well as
campus journalists based in the country under the following categories: written text published in print media, online and
broadcast media, photojournalism, campus journalism and government advocacy peace projects.
Deadline for submission of entries is on COB, May 15, 2015. Email entries to DELEGATION-PHILIPPINES-PPI@eeas.europa.eu.
40
March 2015
Gender and Peace Events

March - August 2015
MARCH
1-31
National Womens Month
1st Week
National Womens Week
Nuclear Free & Independent Pacific Day
Day of Healing for Unity and Peace (40th Day since Mamasapano Clash)
International Womens Day

Theme: Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture It!
12-18
16
4th Week
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
Bangsamoro Week of Peace and Solidarity

Anniversary of the Signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect
for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL)
Protection and Gender-Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
24
International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights
Violations and for the Dignity of Victims
27
Anniversary of the Signing of the GPH-MILF Comprehensive Agreement on

the Bangsamoro (CAB)
International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action
29
Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare
8-9
Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives
during the Second World War
10
Mothers Day
17
International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia
24
International Womens Day for Peace and Disarmament
29
International Day of UN Peacekeepers
International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression
20
World Refugee Day
26
United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
Anniversary of the Signing of the GPH-CBA-CPLA Memorandum of

Agreement (MOA)
18
Anniversary of the Signing of the GRP-MILF Agreement for General Cessation

of Hostilities
International Day of the Worlds Indigenous Peoples
JULY
12
AUGUST
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Day

International Youth Day
14
Anniversary of the Signing of the Magna Carta of Women (RA 9710)
29
International Day Against Nuclear Tests
30
International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances

Kababaihan at Kapayapaan Issue No. 3

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Kababaihan at Kapayapaan Issue No. 3

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Issue No.

Sec. Teresita Quintos Deles

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In pursuit of peace, truth

Women at the Forefront:

The Road Out of

Gender in the peace process

Women forge on, echoing

Field Notes from the North:

PEACE TABLE UPDATES

FROM THE PUBLISHER

I find it oddly strange

Women at the Forefront:

More than a month after the tragic incident in

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita

It has always been my job to give hope where there is

One marvels at the quiet dignity, grace, and stamina Deles

din natin ang inaasam na kapayapaan (we will definitely reach

The Mamasapano tragedy is considered a major test for the

in Mindanao, realize meaningful autonomy in the region

Bai Sandra Sema is the wife of Moro National Liberation

the site of a bloody encounter in October 2011 between

Taking stock of current realities, the women peace

Gender in the Peace Process

Gender stereotyped or socially constructed roles and

Subjected to the harshest of criticisms and baseless

A study in 2012 showed that of 31 peace processes

Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, Chair of the government peace

Yet with all these outstanding qualities of good and

The appointment of two competent, experienced

Saving the BBL

THE MAMASAPANO INCIDENT

was a national tragedy, the pain and

half-truths being peddled to the public

was declared by peace advocates as

Women forge on, echoing the calls for peace

broadsheets for weeks now, serves as a looming

the Bangsamoro, in public actions, such as the one held

A notable and very important initiative that the network

Zenonida Brosas and Cecilia Jimenez

Deepening the Peace

Zenonida Brosas, Co-chair, Joint Normalization Committee

Making a difference in a mans world

Zen has a bachelors degree in

I WOULD BE DANCING, Zen

Brosas says gaily, when asked what

After college, not knowing what she

a stroke and Zen had to weigh her

It was the start of an interesting

your job, will the left recruit you?

was appointed chair of the GPH

What excites Zen about her

With all the challenges the peace

Cecilia Jimenez, GPH Representative, Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission

The return of the native

the influence of a grandfather judge

DESPITE THE ROCKY PATH,

toward the passage of the Bangsamoro

Finally, as undergraduate at the

Jimenez completed a law degree at

Jimenez recalls continuing arbitrary

whether female genital mutilation

Her task? To give advice and training

assistance and disaster management.