PBCI STRATEGIC ADVISERS
We work with people from various faiths, expressions of spirituality, and philosophical perspectives. We are blessed to have peace advocacy leaders who have agreed to work together for peace while respecting each others’ differing worldviews.
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REV. DR. MARIANO C. APILADO
We call him Kuya Mar. Kuya is a Pilipino term of endearment for respectable older brother. He is our respected theologian, philosopher, and historian. We love his sense of humor that usually prompts us to think and to reflect about God, about ourselves, about others, and about the creation. He has been serving in the ministry of Jesus Christ through the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, in various capacities as local church pastor, seminary president, acting chairman of the General Assembly, and chairman of the National Juridical Commission.
Rev. Mariano C. Apilado is a graduate of Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, Tennessee. He is the author of Revolutionary Spirituality: A Study of the Protestant Role in the American Colonial Rule in the Philippines (New Day Publishers, 1999), and The Dream Need Not Die: Revolutionary Spirituality 2 (New Day Publishers, 2000).
He is our Strategic Adviser, Peace and Reconciliation Community Building – Luzon.
What attracted us most about Kuya Mar’s teaching is his Christ-centered perspective of hope and peace in the context of the community: With Jesus as the ground of communion and chief cornerstone of hope, the people of God can remember the future—meaning, they can transcend their fears, limitations and frailties; they can overcome their selfishness, greed and apprehensions; they can form fellowships of reconciliation and concords of peace; and they can establish communities for self-sacrificing service of the most noble and divine kind.
mar@peacebuilderscommunity.org
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THE HON. DATU KHARIS M. BARAGUIR, SR.
Datu Kharis was the first elected Vice Governor of the Province of Maguindanao. He is a devout Muslim and a respected elder coming from the Maguindanao’s traditional leadership family. He is a man of peace whom we look up to as our adopted father. All staff and volunteers of PeaceBuilders Community, local and global, are required to go through Datu Kharis’ orientation on Mindanao Peace Process from the Bangsamoro perspective.
Datu Kharis is our Strategic Adviser, Bangsamoro Historical Narrative and Culture.
Asked what motivates him to work with a Christian peace building community like us: Islam is a religion of peace (salam). It is consistent with Islamic teaching to be friends and co-workers of the People of the Book who truly practice the ethical principles of their faith. I am a Muslim member of PeaceBuilders Community.
datukharis@peacebuilderscommunity.org
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USTADZ ABDULKADIR ABUBAKAR
Ustadz Abdulkadir is the Executive Director of the Bangsamoro Development and Resource Center (BDRC), our partner in Values Enhancement Training (VET) among the Islamic leaders around the Ligawasan Marsh. He is also the Chairperson of the Bangsamoro Secretariat, Mindanao People’s Peace Movement (MPPM). Most of our relationships and peace network around Ligawasan (Marsh Lands) are through the kind facilitation of Ustadz Abdulkadir.
Ustadz Abdulkadir is our Strategic Adviser, Islamic Values.
Asked about the importance of the Values Enhancement Training (VET) in the context of Mindanao: The unbearable situation due to constant war gave birth to the Values Enhancement Training program. The continuous war heightened the biases and prejudices between Muslims and Christians in Mindanao. This grim and morbid scenario of war leads to the theoretical framework of first VET to delve on the Muslim-Christian Dialogue. VET provides space for wider understanding, analyzing and interpreting the tenets of Islam and exerts positive and harmonious relationship between Muslims and Christians especially in the conflict affected communities.
abdulkadir@peacebuilderscommunity.org
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PROF. SHARON BULACLAC
Sharon is a faculty member at the main campus of Mindanao State University in the City of Marawi, Lanao del Sur. Some of the courses she has been teaching are Philippine History and Institutions, Life and Works of Rizal, and History of the Filipino Muslims and the Lumads. She got involved with PeaceBuilders Community through friendship with Mei Solocasa which began while they were working on the field. As a young scholar with passion in social and historical research, Sharon helps PBCI as we seek to contribute in telling a story of Mindanao that is peace-oriented, and owned by all the people-groups in our beautiful island.
She is our Strategic Adviser, Mindanao History, Society, and Culture.
Asked why she’s joining a small organization like PeaceBuilders Community: For me it’s not how old or how big an organization is. It’s what the organization believes in. As an individual I’ll join this small community of peacebuilders for I also believe in the peace and reconciliation being the heart of your ministry.
sharon@peacebuilderscommunity.org