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Those Improbable Annexes

THE latest news about the Mindanao peace process is not so encouraging. This in particular is about apparent irresolvable conflicting proposals by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and government panels on three of the four annexes that are deemed needed to operationalize the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed last October amid much jubilation and hope. Those annexes were originally...

The Indispensability of Painstaking Dialogues

FOR the first time since President Aquino appointed the members of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro’s (FAB) Transition Commission (TC) last month, two of its commissioners held a dialogue with the convenors and key associates of the Interreligious Solidarity for Peace (ISP). The meeting was occasioned by the one-day visit to Zamboanga City of GPH Peace Panel chief negotiator...

Mindanao Women Politicians Rising

IN the past 25 years, starting from the presidency of Cory Aquino, the number of women elected to top political positions in Mindanao rose from 10 to the 34 who won seats in the recent May 13 elections. Of this incoming breed, eight are governors, eight are city mayors and 18 are Congress representatives. In terms of percentage per post,...

PAZ’s Romance with Barangays

REALIZING individual and collective peace at the community level as the fruit of general human security can only result from socio-economically oriented good governance. This is the philosophy of the Barangay Peace Consultations which Peace Advocates Zamboanga (PAZ) is currently implementing at some 20 communities in Zamboanga City.

PAZ Holds Peace-building Consultations in 3 More Barrios

THE non-profit Peace Advocates Zamboanga (PAZ) has further visited three more barangays in the city to hold its Barangay Peace Consultation with community officials and leaders in the past week.

IPSP’s Regional Monitor Coordinates with Zamboanga Sibugay Stakeholders for Program’s Implementation

IN line with the planned expanded implementation of the Internal Peace and Security Program (IPSP), the Bantay Bayanihan Western Mindanao Cluster open another door for a wider coverage in the area of Zamboanga Sibugay when it held a round table discussion with the stakeholders of peace in Ipil and the nearby municipalities last May 30 in Casa Mea Hotel, Ipil,...

Paging All Voters: Support Bata Na Muna Drive

CHILDREN under 18 years of age are technically unqualified to vote in this coming May 13 mid-term elections, but they are calling on all the wannabe national and local poltical candidates to consider them as their priority beneficiary-constituents if ever they will be given the mandate to serve the populace.

State of Denial

THE nation observed World Press Freedom Day last Friday, May 3, more with sorrow than joy. That’s because the “freedom” in the phrase has been increasingly and pervertedly exercised in terms of a freedom to kill Filipino media practitioners, and a freedom for their killers to escape punishment. The international Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) ranked the Philippines for the...

Sulu Sultanate Bares Tougher New Stance on Sabah Claim

SULU Sultan Jamalul Kiram’s spokesman Engr. Ibrahim Idjirani met in a 3-hour dialogue last Monday afternoon (April 29) with key members of the Interreligious Solidarity for Peace (ISP) at the Peace and Development Resource Center of the Zamboanga-Basilan Integrated Development Alliance, Inc. (ZABIDA) located in Suterville, Zamboanga City.

A Peace Course for the Strong

THIS week, from April 15 to 18, the Interreligious Solidarity for Peace (ISP) in tandem with Peace Advocates Zamboanga (PAZ) and Zamboanga-Basilan Integrated Development Alliance, Inc. (ZABIDA) conducted the annual 3rd Summer Peace-Building Course. Some 40 religious and community leaders and frontliners from civil societies, barangays, local governments and special in...terest groups took part, which was held at the Claret...

ISP’s Candidates Forum

ONE congressional candidate asked the audience to say “I love you” to each other, another read a dead man’s affidavit accusing another candidate present of dirty election tactic, and a mayoralty candidate asked everyone to stand up and pray with him. But other than these surprises, the Local Candidates Forum spearheaded by the Interreligious Solidarity for Peace (ISP) last Saturday...

Mayoralty, Congressional Candidates Will Present Peace-Making Platforms in Saturday’s Forum

ZAMBOANGA City’s congressional and mayoralty candidates will have the chance to present their “peace platforms” in the “Special Local Candidates Forum” to be held on Saturday, April 13, in Marcian Business Hotel, this city.

Mindanao Peaceweavers Urge Ceasefire, Human Rights Probe on Sabah Crisis

AS the deadly crisis stemming from the Sulu Sultanate’s incursion into Sabah entered its second month, the eight-network peace consortium Mindanao Peaceweavers (MPW) has again “ reiterated our key message to the governments of Malaysia and the Philippines and the followers of Sultan Jamalul Kiram II: declare and implement a ‘humanitarian ceasefire’ in the conflict-affected districts of Sabah.”

37 Graduating Students are Young Peace Weavers 2013

IN their non-stop pursuit to mold peace champions in this city, Peace Advocates Zamboanga (PAZ) and the Interreligious Solidarity for Peace (ISP) will confer the Young Peace Weavers Award to 29 deserving graduating secondary students and eight graduating tertiary students for this school year, all of whom have made significant contributions to peace in their respective schools and communities.

CSOs Again Urge Sabah Crisis Protagonists to Peacefully Settle Deadly Feud

CONCERNED civil society groups and individuals in Zamboanga City met on Saturday afternoon to join hands to urge for the peaceful resolution of the 3-week old armed conflict in Sabah between loyalists of the Sultanate of Sulu and Malaysian police and military. The gathering was dubbed as “Forum on Sabah Claim” and was sponsored by the Interreligious Solidarity for Peace (ISP)...

Civil Societies Urge Dialogue to Resolve Sabah Conflict

CALM down, don’t shoot but instead let’s talk to peacefully resolve the Sabah crisis. This was the appeal made by five large civil society networks to the Sulu sultanate and Malaysian and Philippine governments amid the escalating use of firepower in the North Borneo province. The NGOs who made the appeal are Mindanao Peace Weavers (MPW), Global Partnership for the Prevention...

20 High School Studes Learn the Art of Peace

SOME 20 high school students converged for a two-day peace arts workshop last February 27-28 at the ZABIDA Peace and Development Resource Center in Suterville, this city.

PWDs Are Helped by Civil Society to Vote in Coming Polls

Members of the Persons with Disabilities (PWD) residing in Western Mindanao were challenged to go out and vote on the forthcoming midterm election.

What Price Sabah?

IN the ongoing, two-week old stand-off in Sabah between armed Tausug loyalists of the Sultan of Sulu and Malaysian authorities, the latest request by Sultan Jamalul Kiram III to Brunei’s Sultan Bolkiah to intercede for a peaceful settlement is probably the most sober and wisest move yet on the part of any concerned parties. By the fact that his 18th-century...

Civil Registrar’s Office Accepts Lists of Undocumented Muslim Children Done by Jabu-Jabu NGO

MORE than 2,000 Muslim children whose births remain unregistered with government obtained a degree of recognition from the City Registrar’s Office when a Muslim NGO formally turned over lists of their names and data about their birth to the agency.

Good Elections, Good Promises

THE nation deserves a pat on the back for successfully conducting the elections last May 13. We congratulate the Commission on Elections, police and military, Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting and other watchdog groups, and the teachers who acted as board of election inspectors for all their difficult jobs yet well-done. We congratulate the candidates, both winners and losers,...

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