Category: SOCIO-POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION
Stories and ideas about being in harmony and at peace with Others.
We learned that the new Division Commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the highest military officer in the whole Greater Davao Region, is willing to have a dialogue with peacebuilding civil society organizational leaders. We, at PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) and Coffee for Peace (CFP) immediately prayed for, and planned, a course of action to pay him a courtesy call. We also invited our civil society partners – Mindanao PeaceWeavers, Initiatives for International Dialogue, All-Out Peace Network, and Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict – to join us. Last 29 August 2022, MajGen Nolasco A. Mempin, along with his staff and ground commanders under him, received our group into the headquarters of the 10th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/08/peace-network-engages-government-military-in-a-peace-dialogue/
26 – 27 Aug 2022. The Talaandig Indigenous People’s community in Sungko, Lantapan, Bukidnon, finished the first of two social entrepreneurship workshops which was jointly facilitated by Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT), led by Dr. Jinky Bornales, and the Inclusive Development Team of PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. and Coffee for Peace (PBCI-CFP IncluDev Team). With the cultural guidance and leadership of Datu Migketay “Vic” Saway, the seminar-workshop focused on generating Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSP) that can be used in their social enterprise ventures. The participants also identified the products that they want to develop as social enterprises.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/08/talaandig-community-finishes-first-workshop-on-social-entrepreneurship/
Indonesia 2022 gathering was my sixth year and my last event serving as chair of the Peace Commission of the Mennonite World Conference (MWC). I feel the joy of watching our team working together to see MWC embrace the Statement on Solidarity with the Indigenous People. For me, this is the most exciting part of the last 6 years serving with the Peace Commission. I have been blessed working with the women and men whom I learned to respect and love. I pray that MWC would continue to serve the Body of Christ; to serve the nations towards justice and peace; and, to serve as a healing body in the process of decolonization and reconciliation in this world.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/07/2022-mwc-global-assembly-in-indonesia-a-personal-reflection/
28-30 June 2022. The Inclusive Development Team of PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. and Coffee for Peace (PBCI-CFP IncluDev Team) conducted a series of small group consultations and workshop-seminars with our partners from the Ovu Menovu Indigenous People’s community and from the Corporate Social Responsibility Department of the Energy Development Corporation (CSR-EDC). These field activities are a part of a five-year Social Entrepreneurial Training Program among pre-qualified Ovu Menovu farmers.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/06/our-partnership-with-the-ovu-menovu-farmers-and-with-the-csr-edc-deepens-in-rootedness/
Last 07-09 June 2022, Lakan Sumulong participated in a regional dialogue of civil society organization (CSO) leaders on the Bangsamoro Peace Process. It was organized by the Mindanao Peoples’ Caucus, led by Atty. Mary Ann Arnado. The objectives were: (a) to enable Mindanao CSOs to reflect on the new political realities and challenges facing the extended transition period in the BARMM as national government transitions from the Duterte to Marcos presidency; and, (b) to prepare at the earliest possible time to effectively address emerging issues with the end in view of sustaining and protecting the gains of the peace process.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/06/pbci-participates-in-the-2022-regional-dialogue-on-the-bangsamoro-peace-process/
Last 6th of May 2022, the Green Habits Agri-Trading (GHAT) made a partnership agreement with Kapeyapaan Farmers Association (KFA). They were accompanied by the IncluDev Team of the PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) and of Coffee For Peace (CFP). The signing of agreement was held in Malipayon Peace Hub, the post-harvest facility of CFP in Barangay Managa, Bansalan, Davao del Sur. They both aim to become an outstanding social enterprise in Barangay Alegre and even in the Greater Davao Area.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/05/green-habits-and-kfa-alegre-form-a-social-enterprise-alliance/
As a Filipino citizen, I have been lamenting because of the unfortunate result of the candidacy of Leni Robredo, Kiko Pangilinan, and their senatorial team. As I lament, I’m reflecting on the seeming triumph of untruth and injustice. In the next six years, we will go through another socio-political darkness akin to the Marcos Martial Law and the Duterte War on Drugs. But hope, faith, and love allow me to see our short-term loss and our long-term victory as advocates of justice, peace, and reconciliation. I’m disappointed with the popular votes, but I see opportunities for a protracted, nonviolent, radical transformation of our land and our people.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/05/moving-on-after-the-2022-philippine-elections-a-personal-lamentation-and-reflection/
Last 25-28 April, leaders of a Zambales-based Fresh Hope Agape Center (FHAC) Inc. visited PeaceBuilders Community Inc. (PBCI) and Coffee For Peace (CFP) in Davao. The purpose of their visit was to get actual coffee farm exposure, to get post-harvest processing experience, and to go through Peace and Reconciliation (PAR) seminar. FHAC provides education and livelihood support to marginalized communities in Zambales. Their work is especially focused on Aeta Indigenous People’s community in Zambales.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/04/friends-working-among-zambales-aetas-establish-partnership-with-pbci-cfp-team/
We look at our our national situation through the lens of shalom-based transformation — that is, harmony with the Creator (spiritual-ethical transformation), harmony with our being (psycho-social transformation), harmony with others (socio-political transformation), and harmony with the creation (economic-ecological transformation). This season, when we commemorate the suffering and death of the Prince of Shalom, we reflect on the condition of our people and our land. This season, when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, we also want to celebrate the glimpses of renewed life in our society.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/04/praying-for-our-national-situation-during-the-2022-holy-week/
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/
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/
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/
