07-13 August 2016 — Zamboanga City. A group of 16 Peace and Reconciliation leaders from Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Basilan, and Zamboanga gathered for a week-long intensive training on Peace and Reconciliation Principles and Practice.
This is the third of a three-part course that is composed of the following areas of study:
Introduction to Social Ethics. This course examines the sources for values that underlie our personal ethics. It also introduces the learners to some of the significant ethical theories in Western and Southeast Asian traditions, theories that applies to social and political issues in current Philippine society.
Culture, History, and Social Ethics in the Philippine Context. A survey and analysis of the cultural and historical factors affecting our social ethics as Filipinos. The class discusses case studies of corruption and transformation from the lenses of spiritual, psycho-social, socio-political, and economic-ecological aspects of our realities.
Roots of Conflict, Violence, and Peace in the Philippines. An examination of influential theories about the sources and nature of conflict, violence, and peace. The class discusses various levels of conflict — personal, family, community, society — and how Peace and Reconciliation Principles and Practice are applied in the conflict transformation processes needed for the healing of our land.
For this particular session, we used the book by Terry and Hogg:
The reasons why people do not always act in accord with their attitudes has been the focus of much social psychological research, as have the factors that account for why people change their attitudes and are persuaded by such influences as the media. There is strong support for the view that attitude-behavior consistency and persuasion cannot be well understood without reference to the wider social context in which we live. Although attitudes are held by individuals, they are social products to the extent that they are influenced by social norms and the expectations of others.
This book brings together an international group of researchers discussing private and public selves and their interaction through attitudes and behavior. The effects of the social context on attitude-behavior relations and persuasion is the central theme of this book, which–in its combination of theoretical exposition, critique, and empirical research–should be of interest to both basic and applied social psychologists.
The PAR Leaders in Western Mindanao are involved in various local communities — Sama, Yakan, Tausug, and Migrants.
As people advancing Peace and Reconciliation, we are all praying and working for just-peace for the Bangsamoro. For their genuine just-peace is the genuine justice and peace for all the people in Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, TawiTawi, and the whole of Mindanao. And the just-peace of Mindanao is the justice and peace of the whole Philippines.
