Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Please find below a working paper I drafted for your comments in relation to Conflict Transformation work, the Just Peace Paradigm, armed conflicts in Mindanao and Nationwide.

Networking for Peacekeeping & Mediation Work Nationwide
Helping Realize the Cessation of Armed Hostilities, Bringing and Encouraging Conflicting Parties to Engage in Fruitful Negotiations and Peace Talks.

The successful efforts of peacekeepers in Mindanao is a model perhaps worthy of replicating in our quest to help address other major armed conflicts nationwide. Both local and international groups in the South have played very important roles in monitoring and ensuring that ceasefire agreements are observed by protagonist concerned. They have defused tensions were incidents occur that have threatened or could have escalated into another full fledged war. All their efforts thereby allowed negotiations and talks to continue unhampered, achieve small successes that help enhance confidence in the process that when combined enables conflicting parties to believe that resolutions can be achieve one small but significant step at a time, confident that it is possible to reconcile each sides hopes and aspirations.

To mention a few, Bantay Ceasfire has been very visible in its collaborative effort with the International Monitoring Team and other components of the GRP-MILF Peace process. Other groups which are less visible but are equally very active are Sindaw Kalilintad and Tyakap Kalilintad. The PAKAT network has facilitated the entry of the Nonviolent Peaceforce. The least visible but pivotal in role are the thousands of peace workers and religious groups (such as the Silsillah Dialogue Movement and the Reconciliation Centers) that have worked tirelessly to empower a grassroots peace constituency, improve and restore the way of life and dignity of the ordinary civilians often caught in the middle of the on-again, off-again violence and war.

In particular, however, this paper hopes to discuss the possibilities of an expanded PAKAT network. While it is a late-comer in the context of peace work in Mindanao, it has helped bring the context of unarmed nonviolent civilian peacekeeping and Third Party Nonviolent Intervention (TPNI) into the mainstream of peace work. NP made an initial attempt in 2000 when David Hartsough visited the country at the close of Pres. Estrada's All-out-war and his eventual removal. There was a cool response to the idea at that time.

PAKAT was initiated by the Interfaith Center for a Culture of Nonviolence (ICCN) in 2003, after the Liguasan Marsh war, as an informal network to gather individuals and organizations who showed particular interest in the concept of unarmed nonviolent peacekeeping work and TPNI. It soon got the recognition of the NP as the third Member Organization (MO) in the Philippines. With the support of the CRS, MCC and the DED, it hosted the exploratory work of David Grant, Christine Schweitzer, and Atif Hameed (who is now the head of the NP Field team in Mindanao).

As the NP Mindanao program gained greater confidence in doing its work independently, PAKAT took the back seat and allowed for greater participation of the other more dominant players and individuals in the field. Like other MO's, PAKAT only get updates through the list-serve for MO's. It however continued to exchange information about the events that unfolded in Mindanao.

With the NP firmly in place in May 2007, this paper seeks to reevaluate the initiatives of PAKAT in the context of the other major armed conflict in the country. The paper seeks to advance the following initiatives:
introduce and incorporate the skills of non-partisan mediation work as an integral part of unarmed nonviolent peacekeeping and TPNI
develop and organize a team of trained mediators/ peacekeepers for assignment or deployment in armed conflict areas
expand the network to include member individuals and organizations to cover areas outside of Mindanao
convene interested groups and individuals by October 2, the International Day of Nonviolence, to seek an expanded mandate
invite Jess Dureza and an NP representative as the keynote speakers
co-organize a 5 day training for peacekeeping and mediation work on October 3 to 7, 2007
initial list of people & groups to be invited: Caloy Manlupig for FCED, MEDNET with Madet Gardiola & Fr. Beni, Iye of Sulong CARHRILL, Soc Banzuela of AKKAPKA, Pastor Rey of CPT, Reps from the GRP-CNN peace panels, reps from the GRP- RPM/ABB peace panels, Fr. Bert Layson for Bantay Ceasefire; Guiamel Alim for CBCS, PAKAT network representatives (Myla, Tommy, Juvy, Flora), Joce Niwane of Ifugao, Manny Onalan of Kalinga, Fr. Ewald & Manny of Mangyan Mission, others (please add on or delete)
ICCN remains the secretariat
Proposed Venues: AIM Makati (PAKAT Convention); 5-day training (Don Bosco PEACE Center, Canlubang, Laguna
Your comments and reactions, please. Thank you in advance.