Davao City – While the GRP-MILF peace panels negotiated for an interim agreement in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in the last two days, the Mindanao PeaceWeavers (MPW) was also brewing a document called the Mindanao People’s Peace Agenda (MPPA) that they plan to offer to the two negotiating panels as Mindanao civil society’s blueprint towards a common peace platform.

Davao City, Philippines—In celebration of the International Women’s Month this March, the Philippine government has issued Executive Order 865 creating the national steering committee on Women, Peace and Security. EO 865 adopts the National Action Plan of the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UN SCR) 1325 that specifically addresses the impact of war on women, and women’s contributions to conflict prevention and sustainable peace.

COMMUNITY PROCESSES STRENGTHENED IN MPW AGENDA-BUILDING

COTABATO CITY- “Life without hunger or displacement, where there is equal opportunity for everyone and where the ancestral domain of Moro and indigenous peoples are genuinely respected and upheld, and where the propriety rights of settlers are recognized”, are the emerging consensus points in the ongoing Central Mindanao area consultation on the Mindanao Peoples Peace Agenda (MPPA).

The MPPA, a flagship project of the Mindanao Peaceweavers (MPW), is a process of consensus building that intends to help facilitate a common understanding and develop unified action in addressing the peace and conflict issues in Mindanao.

The Mindanao Peaceweavers (MPW) expresses alarm on the declaration of Martial Law in Maguindanao purportedly to enable government to move freely and get the witnesses and gather evidence without fear in relation to the massacre of 60 civilians, mostly women, in the Ampatuan stronghold last November 23.

The declaration, contained in Proclamation 1959, also suspended the writ of habeas corpus in the province. The declaration was prompted by reports of “armed groups in the province of Maguindanao” establishing positions “to resist government troops, thereby depriving the Executive of its powers and prerogatives to enforce the laws of the land and to maintain public order and safety” and of the “deteriorating condition of peace and order to the extent that the local judicial system and other government mechanisms in the province are not functioning, thus endangering public safety.”

We grieve together with the families of those brutally killed in the 23 November massacre in Ampatuan town in the province of Maguindanao. We stand in solidarity with the Filipino people in voicing their collective outrage over this brazen display of power and arrogance that can only flourish in the continuing culture of impunity that pervades the country.

We are appalled and angered at the manner by which this attack on more than fifty-seven [57] innocent lives was carried out. Women, journalists, lawyers, and defenseless civilians terrorized and murdered by around 100 armed men. Bullet-ridden bodies dumped in mass graves.

We have never seen this kind of barbarism in our age and time. Not even in the war fields of Iraq and Afghanistan, has this kind of brazen, brutal and blatant act of impunity happen. More so in an avowed democratic country we call the Republic of the Philippines.

The Mindanao Peace Weavers (MPW), the broadest network of peace constituency in Mindanao strongly condemns the horrendous killings of unarmed, helpless women and other civilians in Maguindanao yesterday. We eventually hold the national government accountable for the deaths of 40 gentle and peaceful civilians, including members of the media around high noon in a highway in Maguindanao.

The Mindanao Peaceweavers (MPW) is deeply saddened by the sudden loss of our co-convenor, Mr. Rey Magno Teves. Rey succumbed to a bad case of pneumonia early today.

Last Tuesday, he was merrily presiding over a Convenors meeting that was finalizing plans for the launch of MPW’s Mindanao Peoples Peace Agenda (MPPA), and a series of dialogues with Presidential candidates in next year’s elections. MPW is currently winding up analysis of its respective network consultations on the MPPA. Two area consultations in Central and Western Mindanao are scheduled this month before the MPPA launch at a Peoples’ Assembly in January. The MPPA will be MPW’s framework for engagement of the peace process in Mindanao.

The dialogues with the Presidential candidates will start with MPW’s constituencies engaging them on their respective platforms on Mindanao in the context of the MPPA.

The Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID), an advocacy and solidarity regional network challenges the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to come up with mechanisms to address conflicts within states.

“Clearly, there is enough basis in the blueprint for ASEAN to address intra-state conflicts. They are in fact reflective and consistent with international norms and instruments such as the Geneva Convention on International Humanitarian Law; Responsibility to Protect, and even United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1674 pertaining to the role of women in peacebuilding and ensuring protection of civilians in armed conflict respectively.” Gus Miclat, IID Executive Director said during the ASEAN Civil Society Conference held in Cha-am, Thailand on October 18-20, 2009.

Despite the seeming indifference shown by the ASEAN head of governments, civil society in the region remains committed to pro-actively engage with the regional body to realize a people-oriented ASEAN and foster governments-peoples cooperation in creating building blocks for a just, people-centered, caring and sharing ASEAN community.

Gus Miclat, Executive Director of the Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID) said engaging with the ASEAN will ensure human security and development of peoples in the region. IID, which is also a regional initiator of GPPAC-Southeast Asia participated in the recent ASEAN People’s Forum/ASEAN Civil Society Conference held in Cha-am, Thailand.

Armed conflict is devastating on many levels. Long running violence leaves peoples traumatized and wounded, with the vast majority of casualties being civilians. Many of these are women, who are killed, tortured, raped, and left behind to survive in a world of destruction.

Yet, women are much more then victims. They play an active role in how conflicts evolve. Sometimes in its escalation or prolongation, but more often than that in the prevention and resolution of armed conflicts. The enormous importance of the role that women play in conflict prevention and peace building has long been recognized, amongst others through UN Security Council Resolution 1325. In 2010, 1325 will celebrate its 10th anniversary. A moment to reflect and review the effectiveness of the resolution.

On September 30, 55 members of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), a global civil society-led network of peace workers gathered in Davao City, Southern Philippines to share strategies and draft its peacebuilding and conflict prevention agenda for the coming years.

WE, members of the GPPAC-International Steering Group (ISG), reiterate our goal of building an international consensus on peacebuilding and prevention of violent conflict.

As violent conflict persists around the world, civilians, especially women and children, remain vulnerable to violence, abuse and displacement. Mechanisms must be developed and strengthened to ensure that even where we fail to prevent violent conflict the rights and dignity of the civilian population, especially women and children, are protected. While it is in their name that war is waged, the promotion and protection of their rights and dignity is the basis from which any peace should be forged.

DAVAO CITY (1 October)- After more than 25 years of armed conflict, the civil war in Sri Lanka ended in May 2009.

The military victory of the Sri Lankan government over the rebel Tamil Tigers is now touted by hardliners and hawks as a model for resolving festering armed conflicts in the world. In fact, some government and military officials in the Philippines have been advocating the same “Sri Lanka solution” in ending the armed insurgencies in the country.

But did the conflict really end in Sri Lanka? A gathering of peacebuilders from all over the world meeting in Davao City this week believes that this solution is not applicable nor even workable. In fact, it would spell disaster if applied in the Philippine or Mindanao contexts.

The Global Partnership for the Prevention of the Armed Conflict (GPPAC), a global network of peacebuilders, is offering to join a body that is being set up to break the impasse in the peace process between the Philippine government (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and to also support and sustain it.

During his appearance in the ABS-CBN’s regional morning TV show, Maayong Buntag Mindanao (Good Morning, Mindanao), earlier today. Gus Miclat of Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID), which is the Regional Secretariat for Southeast Asia of GPPAC, said that GPPAC is offering itself as a potential member of the the International Contact Group (ICG) of the GRP-MILF peace process.

The 7th ASEF Journalists’ Colloquium registered concern for the distrust that characterises the working relationship between faith leaders and the media, and called for deep reflection on the need to build mutual confidence, understanding and respect on both sides.

A select group of Asian and European faith leaders and journalists gathered in Seoul on 21-22 September 2009 to discuss the challenges and opportunities of their collaboration in promoting interfaith dialogue.

Amongst the recommendations to the ASEM Interfaith Dialogue partners were a call to invest in education programmes for both faith leaders and journalists that can reduce the considerable knowledge gaps on both sides, and to focus on the youth in programmes that include elements of exchange, debate and training.

Peace is possible.

As we celebrate the International Day of Peace, today September 21, we continue to hope that the collective action for peace will bring about changes in the lives of the peoples. Conflict continues to persist in various parts of the world.

In the Philippines, we commemorate the suppression, arrests and detention of those who openly opposed the Marcos dictatorship, 37 years ago when Martial Law was declared.

Allow the people to breathe and live with peace.

Since August 2008, more than 700,000 persons, mostly children and women have been displaced from their homes and robbed of the equal opportunity to live humanely and with dignity, able to productively take part in their own communities.

They are not members of any armed groups. They are plain civilians who have been at the receiving end of attacks from both rebel groups and the military troops. They are also branded as reserve enemy force of government troops.