KALINGA PEACE AND RECONCILIATION COMMUNITY CELEBRATES FIRST COFFEE HARVEST 

One of the key objectives of the Inclusive Development (IncluDev) team of PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) and Coffee for Peace (CFP) is to help strengthen peace and reconciliation values in every farming community where coffee is grown, among other produce. Here, we’ll focus on the journey of our partner from the Banao Indigenous community in the Province of Kalinga. Recently, they reported of their first harvest as an initial result of a long process of inclusive development endeavor.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/03/kalinga-peace-and-reconciliation-community-celebrates-first-coffee-harvest/

JOJI SPEAKS AT AN INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION PROGRAM 

Wednesday, 02 March 2022 — The College of Economics, Business and Accountancy (CEBA) and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension (OVCRE) of the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) invited Joji “Lakambini” Pantoja, our President & CEO at Coffee For Peace, to speak on an online program to educate participants on innovation and social entrepreneurship. The program is called Social Innovation Development and Entrepreneurship Conversation (SIDE C).

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/03/joji-speaks-at-an-innovation-and-entrepreneurship-education-program/

THE HEALING POWER OF REMEMBERING: WHAT EDSA MEANS TO ME

EDSA is the term we use to signify the People’s Power Revolution that brought down the Marcos dictatorial regime in 22-25 February 1986. EDSA, or Efipanio Delos Santos Avenue, was the place where millions of people gathered together that led to the dismantling of the violent and murderous Marcos Martial Rule. This week, the government of the Philippines is officially celebrating the EDSA, but Duterte is not scheduled to attend any EDSA Revolution commemorative activity. Each year, I go on a retreat to personally celebrate and remember my fallen colleagues as part of my personal healing. Here is my journal this year.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/02/the-healing-power-of-remembering-what-edsa-means-to-me/

MANDAYA FARMERS TRAVELLED TO A&J FARM AND COFFEE FOR PEACE AS PART OF THEIR SIX-MONTH TRAINING 

As part of their two-day monthly training on “Inclusive Development & Farmerpreneurship,” (a 6-month training program), key farmers and community leaders of Mandaya Indigenous People from Pantuyan, Caraga, Davao Oriental had coffee production exposure trip to A and J Mahayahay Farm and to the CFP post-harvest processing facilities at the Malipayon Peace Hub in Managa, Bansalan, Davao del Sur. I lead this activity in my capacity as Vice President for Community Partnership at Coffee for Peace(CFP). I’m being supported by Aldren Banal, Operations Manager at CFP, who happens to be my husband.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/02/mandaya-farmers-travelled-to-aj-farm-and-coffee-for-peace-as-part-of-their-six-month-training/

WE’RE WORKING WITH ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS TO DEVELOP A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE INCUBATOR 

This is a new phase in our work as justice-based peacebuilders and inclusive development workers here in Mindanao. We are working with the University of the Philippines – Mindanao (UP Mindanao) and with the Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) to further develop our capacity to preserve, systematize, teach, and share what we have been learning in the area of peacebuilding, inclusive development, and social entrepreneurship – all framed in justice-based Peace and Reconciliation Principles.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/01/were-working-with-academic-institutions-to-develop-a-social-enterprise-incubator/

LOOKING BACK TO 2021 AND LOOKING FORWARD TO 2022 THROUGH THE LENSES OF OUR VISION 

We are still focused on our vision. The vision is that, by 31 December 2030, each of our provinces will have a circle of leaders called Peace and Reconciliation (PAR) Communities. They would serve as radical, peaceful transformation volunteers in their respective families, spiritual communities, neighborhoods, barangays, cities, or municipalities. The PAR Communities would also get involved in sustainable and regenerative programs that are indigenous to their specific context.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/01/looking-back-to-2021-and-looking-forward-to-2022-through-the-lenses-of-our-vision/

AMONG MANDAYA INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES, INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT STARTS WITH SPIRITUALITY

The Mandaya Community is the lead organization who defines, determines, and the final assessor of this inclusive development initiative. We spend at least 50% of our seminar time doing active, documented listening. The primary value we have been hearing is about their indigenous spirituality. From this spiritual base and lens, we get a better understanding of their concepts of liberation and their ideas of their right to self-determination. Then collaborative development happens in their own contexts—Mandaya worldview, Mandaya values system, Mandaya behavior patterns, and Mandaya customary laws.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/12/among-mandaya-indigenous-communities-inclusive-development-starts-with-spirituality/

THE ‘KAPEYAPAAN FARMERS ASSOCIATION’ IN BANSALAN MEETS FOR 2022 PLANS

The Board of Directors of the Kapeyapaan Farmers Association in Bansalan, Davao del Sur met last Wednesday, 01 December 2021. They outlined their objectives for the coming year 2022. They are as follows: to streamline farm to market operation; to complete the collection of members’ contribution towards the association fund of PhP2,000 each; to complete the registration with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as a regional farmers association; and, to get members’ Good Agricultural Practices Certification from the Department of Agriculture.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/12/the-kapeyapaan-farmers-association-in-bansalan-meets-for-2022-plans/

BONIFACIO´S DEATH AND HISTORICAL DECOLONIZATION: REVISITING, BUT NOT REVISING, HISTORY

Emilio Aguinaldo ordered the execution of Andres Bonifacio. But we are not commemorating this today, Bonifacio Day. We are celebrating instead his birthday. Is it because our revolutionary narrative is marred by powerplay, jealousy, and murderous intentions among leaders? We, as a former colonized nation, may need to revisit our history. We may need to decolonize ourselves from Spanish and American narratives in our consciousness as a people. But beware of the Marcos historical revisionism that is corrupting our historical decolonization process.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/11/bonifacios-death-and-historical-decolonization-revisiting-but-not-revising-history/

INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM AMONG TWO MANDAYA INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES BEGINS

We have started a six-month program composed of Peace and Reconciliation (PAR) Training Series, farmers association enhancement, mentorship on social entrepreneurship, and quality coffee technical training. This program is being done by the invitation of the Mandaya Community Association, Inc. (MCAI), through the Tri-Peoples Development and Services Foundation (TDSF), in partnership with PeaceBuilders Community Inc. (PBCI) and Coffee For Peace (CFP), to develop a sustainable PAR-framed coffee production and to coach champion Mandaya farmers in Pantuyan and Pichon communities.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/11/inclusive-development-program-among-two-mandaya-indigenous-communities-begins/

THE TRIBAL COUNCIL OF THE BAGOBO TAGABAWA CONFERRED HONORARY TITLES TO OUR TEAM 

During the final day of the National Indigenous Peoples’ Month, which is celebrated every October, the tribal council of the Bagobo Tagabawa invited us to attend their final ceremonies. We were told that, among several events of the day, “there will be a ceremony to officially include us as members of the tribe.” They actually surprised us by conferring honorary leadership titles along with our ritual membership into the tribal community. For this sacred embrace, we express our deep gratitude to the Indigenous Political Structure, the clans, and the families of the Bagobo Tagabawa people. By the Creator’s grace and mercy, we commit to fulfill the duties and responsibilities implied in this honor.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/10/the-tribal-council-of-the-bagobo-tagabawa-conferred-honorary-titles-to-our-team/

LISTEN, RECOGNIZE, AND RESPECT THE KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

We are now documenting and processing all the facts and data from our field interaction last July with the Mandaya people in Caraga, Davao Oriental. The Indigenous People’s leadership there officially invited us — PeaceBuilders Community and CoffeeForPeace — through the initiative of the TriPeoples Development and Services Foundation. We are reminded once again that people have wisdom based on, and learned from, their varied experiences and contexts. We ought to listen to them. We ought to recognize their voices. We ought to stop treating them with condescending, or looking-down, attitude.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/10/listen-recognize-and-respect-the-knowledge-and-wisdom-of-the-indigenous-peoples/

OUR GLOBAL PEACE COMMUNITY

We are sent by Mennonite Church Canada Witness in partnership with our international community.