Balay Mindanaw Foundation, Inc.

Kaangayan, Kalambuan, Kalinaw ... sa Mindanaw, sa Pilipinas, sa Kalibutan

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Despite the region’s richness and giftedness, Mindanao remains as the country’s poorest region. Its rural populace alone, despite their closeness to agricultural resources are among the poorest mainly because 70% of those who work in agriculture do not own the land that they till.

Mindanao remains marginalized economically, politically and culturally. Decisions concerning the lives of Mindanaoans continue to be made by decision-makers in Manila. The unjust center-periphery relationship between Mindanao and the central government persists. Fourteen (14) of the country’s 20 poorest provinces are in Mindanao.

Balay Mindanaw, lives and works in the upland barangays and tribal communities of Gingoog, Claveria and the municipalities of Eastern Misamis Oriental in Northern Mindanao. Its workers continue to come face to face with the realities of extreme poverty and powerlessness. The vulnerability and marginalization of the basic sectors living within these barangays are basically caused by the lack of access and control over basic economic, social, political and legal resources. This situation is at its starkest in the indigenous communities.

The Indigenous Peoples – IPs - or Lumad, as they are known, remain the least involved or consulted group of all. This makes their opportunities for participation in the development of themselves and their lands increasingly difficult. Economic inequity and political disparity remain the biggest obstacles to the quest for genuine development and lasting peace in Mindanao. The Indigenous Peoples and the Moros continue to be under constant threat of further dislocation and marginalization as their ancestral lands have become targets of large agri-business and industrialist interests

The temporary cessation of hostilities brought about by the peace agreement with MNLF and attempts at peace negotiations with MILF and CPP-NPA-NDF continue to be shattered by the outbreak of violence in various communities. Terror continues to reign in many parts of the region. Hunger and despair continue to creep especially in the Moro and tribal communities and evacuation centers. After a brief lull, communist insurgency has again resurfaced with escalating incidence of violence especially in the hinterlands of Northern, Northeastern and Southern Mindanao. This may well prove that lasting peace can never be attained unless inequity and underdevelopment are first addressed.

Against this backdrop, some small victories are being won and breakthroughs are being made by the peoples and communities.

There is a growing informal social movement among NGOs, LGU executives and professional groups that believes in and works towards empowerment and sustainable development of communities with the Barangay as the locus and focus of their initiatives. Workable models for institutionalizing democratic participation of peoples and communities in local development planning have been developed and are now in the process of being replicated in more areas.

Some LGUs – such as Claveria, Gingoog City and the eastern municipalities of Misamis Oriental, Loreto in Surigao del Norte and Hagonoy, Kiblawan and Matanao in Davao del Sur- have already reorganized and strengthened their development councils; drawn up their community profiles using Participatory Rural Appraisal – PRA; formulated their own development plans; developed the relevant projects; mobilised internal and external resources; and most are already implementing some of the projects that they have developed. In these LGUs, civil society participation is noticeably strong and vibrant.

Local initiatives in peace-building by local communities have not stopped amidst the general condition of unpeace and insecurity. Islamic and Christian religious leaders continue to promote and work hard for continuing dialogue of faiths and lives. Peace advocacy movements like the Mindanao Peace Advocates (MPAC), Mindanao Peaceweavers and Kusog Mindanaw continue to provide avenues for dialogue and collaborative efforts among the various sectors in Mindanao.

And there is this GRP – RPM-M Peace Process that is evolving into an alternative approach to formal peace negotiations. The process that is being pursued in this peace talks does not involve complex political negotiations. Rather, a local peace and development agenda that will have an immediate impact on the ground will be formulated by the communities and tribes of Mindanao. As part of this peace process, a series of Barangay (village) and community-based consultations in areas where the RPM-M has presence are being conducted to determine community problems as well as to identify the projects that can be udertaken as a response to these problems. The projects are expected to be mainstreamed and incorporated in all the levels of local development planning. Equity issues such as land ownership are also expected to be identified and resolved.

Work Done to Date

BMFI has developed a workable model for institutionalizing people’s democratic participation in formulating local peace and development agendas, and now is in the process of replicating this in the 24 barangays of Claveria, 26 upland barangays of Gingoog, 30 barangays in MISORET, 10 barangays in Davao del Sur and 44 barangays of Iligan City. Basically, the intervention focuses on the reorganization and strengthening of the barangay development councils (BDCs) and tribal councils, the conduct of participatory data gathering through PRA, the formulation of the barangay development plans (BDPs), enterprise and project development, and the mobilization of internal and external resources. To ensure that the gains are sustained and mainstreamed, BMFI now also sits as regular member of the various barangay, municipal/city, provincial and regional development councils.

One major breakthrough in BMFI’s peace-building work has been its key involvement in the peace process between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Mindanao-based revolutionary group Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa sa Mindanao (RPM-M) or the Revolutionary Workers’ Party of Mindanao. BMFI acts as the third party mediator and Independent Secretariat of the GRP – RPM-M Peace Process.

This Other Peace Process is proving this Other Paradigm right: Empowered and sustainable communities are the real foundation of lasting peace. The process itself (and not the process’ end) will already allow these communities to win small victories, and build peace by themselves. The final resolution is important but communities need not wait for this. Building peace is here and now.

Our experience in the GRP- RPM-M Peace Process has taught us one important lesson: Peace is not only the journey’s end. More importantly, peace is a way of journeying. Peace is not only the resolution of strife but a way of striving.

Balay Mindanaw has also attained some modest gains in coalition-building and development advocacy work as it continues to play key leadership roles and secretariat functions in major Mindanao-wide formations and networks like Kusog Mindanaw, Mindanao Congress of Development NGOs (MINCON), and Mindanao Peace Advocates Conference (MPAC), among others. BMFI also helped catalyze what has become a major campaign in agrarian reform – the MAPALAD Campaign.

BMFI also sits in various government-initiated bodies like the Mindanao Development Council (MEDCO), Mindanao Task Force on Poverty Alleviation (MTFPA), Regional Development Council (RDC) of Northern Mindanao and the various municipal and barangay development councils.

BMFI is also Co-Chair of the Provincial Peace and Order Council of Misamis Oriental.