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 THE
PEACE AND RECONCILIATION TEAMS
Peace and Reconciliation Teams (PAR-T) are composed of local volunteers from various communities who are partnered with
international volunteers. They are jointly trained for 8 months in the following areas —
:: Armed Conflict Area Survival Training
:: Medical and
Relief Operations
:: Fact-Finding
Missions
:: Information
Management
:: Justice Advocacy
:: Conflict
Transformation
:: Trauma Healing
:: Peace Education
:: Inter-Faith
Dialogue
:: Cross-Cultural
Communications
:: Community Development
:: Personal Growth
& Development
We usually go to the field with our peace advocacy network such
as the Mindanao People's Peace Movement (MPPM) and the Mindanao
People's Caucus-Bantay Ceasefire (MPC-BC).
Our PAR Teams have accompanied various groups and individuals to
Mindanao's conflict areas, such as the Philippine Council of
Evangelical Churches (PCEC), Mennonite World Conference (MWC), Mennonite Church
Canada (MCCanada), Mennonite Central Committee-Asia (MCC-Asia), peace and conflict
scholars from the Free University of Amsterdam, volunteer
medical doctors from New Jersey, USA, and delegations from
Rotary Club in British Columbia, Canada.
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SECOND
PEACE AND RECONCILIATION TEAM UNDERWAY by
Christina Bartel Barkman
Marawi City, December 13, 2008. At a recent
Peace Summit in this
Islamic city, Dr. Macapado A. Muslim, the President of
Mindanao State University (MSU), personally invited
Peacebuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) to start a Peace and
Reconciliation Team at MSU’s main campus.
PBCI will start its second Peace and
Reconciliation (PAR) Team this February under the leadership of
field worker and nurse, Mei Solocasa.
 With the first PAR Team in Midsayap trained and
active in peacebuilding activities, PBCI is ready to build a
volunteer base in the conflicted Ranaw area of Mindanao, which includes the areas within the triangle of
Marawi City, Iligan City and Kauswagan Municipality.
Mei plans to train healthcare
workers among the tri-people of Mindanao—Bangsamoro (Muslims), Lumad (Indigenous
People), and Migrants (from Northern
Philippines)—in
the context of peace and reconciliation.
She desires to empower people from the grassroots level
to use their own resources in responding to their healthcare
needs.
The Ranaw region of Marawi City, Iligan and Kauswagan was strategically chosen
as the next site of a PAR team because of the current social,
political and economic issues the area is now facing. The
Islamic City of Marawi is currently hosting nearly 100,000
displaced people due to the recent escalation of armed conflict
between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the
Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).
The uprising between the MILF and the GRP has caused anti-Moro
discrimination in the mostly Christian city of Iligan. The minority Muslim community is experiencing
less opportunity for employment, education and services. And
recently, a bomb exploded in a mall in Iligan on December 18,
killing 3 and injuring 47. The
Armed Forces of the Philippines claim the suspects were members of the MILF;
however, the MILF claim it was a government job.
Kauswagan was the site of the August 18, 2008 attacks, killing 21 civilians and burning 20
homes. Conflict in the Ranaw Region tends to first spark in this
community, and they have deeply felt the effects of war over the
years.
A Peace and Reconciliation Center would also be created, which would act as the
venue for the PAR-Healthcare training, workshops, seminars and
meetings. It would also be a venue for inter-faith dialogues
among the different religious groups working towards lasting
just-peace in Mindanao.
The Peacebuilders Community is excited about these developments
and are blessed with the connections that God is opening up as a
new Peace and Reconciliation Team is underway.
FIRST PEACE AND RECONCILIATION TEAM
SENT-OUT FOR DUTY
IN MIDSAYAP by Dann Pantoja
 Davao
City, March 31, 2008. 18 young people from the three people groups of
Mindanao (Bangsamoro, Lumad, and Migrants) finished the one-year
training course to qualify as members of the Peace
and Reconciliation Team (PAR-T). These teams
are composed of local volunteers from various conflict areas of
Mindanao.
To
be effective agents of peace and reconciliation, they were
required to undergo training in —
:: fact-finding
missions
:: information
management
:: peace education
:: justice advocacy
:: inter-faith
dialogue
:: cross-cultural
communications
:: conflict
transformation
:: medical and
relief operations
:: trauma healing
:: personal growth
& development
Elwyn Neri was the one who gathered, trained, and nurtured these
young people to become a team. He stayed in Midsayap,
North Cotabato for eight months to build the first PAR-T.
Each member of this team is aware of what is expected of them as
individuals:
:: to qualify and recruit two more PAR-T
trainees within six months
:: to pursue further training in Peace and
Reconciliation 2 and 3 and other
supplementary modules
:: to be available anytime their services are
needed in a conflict area
These volunteers are currently operating in Central Mindanao in
partnership with the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA),
Southern Christian College's Community Education Research and
Extension Administration (SCC-CEREA), and the Mindanao People's
Peace Movement (MPPM).
HOW TO GET INVOLVED IN OUR PEACE AND RECONCILIATION TEAMS
:: Information for Applicants in PDF Format 
:: Application Form in MS Word Format
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