Last Sunday, 07 March 2021, I had the pleasure of meeting a tribal chieftain. As we traveled through the hilly landscapes of Northern Mindanao, Bai Jerlina Owok entertained us with stories from her journey as the Bagobo Tagabawa chieftain in Barangay Binaton, Digos City. She shared the story of how she reclaimed her identity as a Bagobo Tagabawa when she reached the summit of Mount Apo—the highest mountain in the Philippines.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/03/power-peace-and-kinship-indigenous-leaders-share-their-dreams/
This is my expression of support to the call of my Palestinian Christian brother and friend, The Rev. Dr. Jack Sara. “I have already written several articles on this subject, expressing how so many of those so-called ‘Evangelical leaders’ have not been helpful in achieving peace here,” he laments. “As we mark the seventy-second year of the nakba,” he adds, “I call upon Christians around the world to help us say enough of the injustice and to join us in prophetically speaking against systems that instill suffering and strife on a weak and almost helpless people.”
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2020/05/i-support-my-palestinian-sisters-and-brothers-as-we-commemorate-the-72nd-year-of-al-nakba/
Our Ama, Lakan Sumulong, led the Inclusive Development Team of PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) and Coffee for Peace (CFP) to celebrate with the Indigenous Peoples and the Bangsamoro in affirming their kinship at the Talaandig Ancestral Territory at the foot of Mt. Kitanglad. The Settlers have been actively participating in this celebration for the past 9 years.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2020/03/pbci-cfp-tribe-participates-in-the-9th-celebration-of-ip-moro-kinship-affirmation/
08-17 January 2020. Three Indigenous Communities in Mindanao welcomed the visit of 12 Canadians from Southern Ontario. This is part of PBCI-CFP Inclusive Development Team’s initiative to facilitate the connection between the coffee farming communities and prospective impact investors and market representatives. This relationship-building and social entrepreneurial partnership is based on justice, peace, and reconciliation.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2020/01/ip-communities-welcome-canadian-inclusive-development-partners/
Abu Dhabi, 09-11 December 2019 — H.E. Dr. Mohammad Al Kaabi (Chairman of the Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments, UAE), and H.E. Abdallah bin Mahfudh ibn Bayyah (President of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies) honored Al Haj Ahod ‘Murad’ Ebrahim (Chief Minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) and Bishop Efraim Tendero (Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance) for their inter-faith peacebuilding contributions in southern Philippines. The awards were presented before the 500+ political, religious, and civil society leaders from 80 countries during the 6th Assembly of the Forum for Promoting Peace, The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2019/12/uae-based-forum-for-promoting-peace-in-muslim-societies-honors-chief-minister-ebrahim-and-bishop-tendero/
12-13 October 2019, Talaandig Ancestral Territory — It was a blessing to be a participant in a series of Talaandig rituals, a gathering together as a people before the Creator for worship. It was a time to ask for the Creator’s mercy, grace, forgiveness, and blessings to the people and to the land. It was a time to affirm, as one people, the harmonious relationship between the Creator, the people, and the whole creation — wherein the spiritual and the physical realities interplay in the same realm.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2019/10/pbci-cfp-tribe-participates-in-the-talaandig-indigenous-celebration/
10-13 September 2019. Sihaya Ansibod, our Director of Field Operations, invited me to travel with her team. First, we met with our partners among the Erumanen Ne Menuvu tribe on Mt. Agkir-Agkir. Then we visited the Iranun coffee farmers in Alamada who invited us to market their coffee. Afterwards, we responded to an invitation of a Maguindanao farming community who envisions to develop a Robusta coffee plantation near Ligawasan Marshlands. Finally, we sealed our partnership with the Obo Bagobo coffee farmers in Ilomavis at the foot of Mt. Apo.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2019/09/sihaya-solidifies-inclusive-development-network-in-central-mindanao-and-davao-region/
I am humbled by this embrace by Bae Jerlina Owok who adopted me as her daughter. This gift of relationship with the Tagabawa Bagobo people became possible only by the Creator’s grace. I pray that this connection would help bridge the Indigenous Peoples of the North and of the South towards a solidarity of all the aboriginal peoples in this whole archipelago. May my life be one of the funnels of this blessing that would unify our multicultural peoples in this rich and beautiful land.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2019/09/as-a-native-of-banao-tribe-i-was-embraced-by-the-tagabawa-bagobo-tribe/
Last 15-17 August 2019, our Ina, Joji ‘Lakambini’ Pantoja, represented the Inclusive Development Team of PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) and Coffee for Peace (CFP) at a social enterprise policy forum held at the Office of the Chief Minister, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Cotabato City. Ina made a presentation before key members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), other social enterprise practitioners, and academicians.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2019/08/pbci-cfp-includev-consultant-participates-in-fostering-social-enterprise-in-barmm/
Third Way communities are usually called to be mediators and must be faithful to provide a safe space and a neutral team of facilitators for both sides of the parties-in-conflict to engage in authentic dialogue. Please do not shoot the bridge-builders! Please respect the calling of the bridge-building Third Way communities.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2019/07/please-respect-third-way-bridge-builders-in-our-divided-societies/
At the 2019 Canadian School of Peacebuilding (CSOP), Dr. Gordon Zerbe and Lakan Sumulong teamed up in teaching “Justice, Peacebuilding, and a Theology of Struggle.” Dr. Zerbe provided the theological and theoretical frameworks and analyses. Lakan shared his peacebuilding field stories. Their 12 students, who came from 8 countries, gathered in Winnipeg last 17-21 June.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2019/06/the-canadian-school-of-peacebuilding-invites-lakan-to-share-pbci-cfp-stories/
Last 03-05 February 2019, I attended the Global Conference of Human Fraternity in Abu Dhabi by the invitation of Dr. Sultan Al Rumaithi, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Elders. A historic document, Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, was signed by both His Holiness Pope Francis (Pope of the Catholic Church) and His Eminence Dr. Ahmer El-Tayeb (Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif) during this conference.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2019/02/i-participated-in-the-global-conference-of-human-fraternity-in-abu-dhabi/
We are sent by Mennonite Church Canada Witness in partnership with our international community.
