NEWS/UPDATES: Balay Mindanaw’s Ariel C. Hernandez is now a party list representative of the 14th Congress

Balay Mindanaw’s Ariel C. Hernandez is now a party list representative of the 14th Congress

Ariel “Ayi” C. Hernandez, the Executive Director of Balay Mindanaw Foundation, Inc. (BMFI), is now one of the newest sectoral representatives to the House of Representatives under the partylist of Anak Mindanao (AMIN). The Commission on Elections has proclaimed 27 party-list nominees to occupy the 29 vacant congressional seats to the 14th Congress following the order of the Supreme Court last April 25, 2009. On Tuesday, April 27, 2009, at 5 p.m., they took oath of office before the House of Representatives session hall with Speaker Prospero Nograles inducting.

Ayi has been a peace and development worker for almost two decades, having worked with farmers, fisherfolks, indigenous peoples, women in the barangays in the island of Mindanao since taking part in the forming of the Balay Mindanaw Foundation way back in 1996 with Charlito “Kaloy” Manlupig, its founder. Ayi represents BMFI at the Peace and Order Council in the province of Misamis Oriental acting as the co-chair. He brings with him BMFI’s quest for equity, development and peace as he says that the stakeholders must learn to “look forward and not just look back to what went wrong and blame each other” such that there should be creative ways of approaching or resolving conflicts.

He has been an active student when he was still at Ateneo de Cagayan-Xavier University.

These past few years, Ayi, in partnership with Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, now the Eastern Mindanao Command chief, has been heavily involved in reaching out to the military to teach soldiers about peacebuilding and conflict management. Hundreds of soldiers have been given capacity-building training to make them more responsible military personnel in the field.

In advocating equity, development and peace issues, one of the mechanisms of bringing this to public knowledge and reaching a wider constituency is through electoral processes. This is one of the reasons why Ayi became one of the Anak Mindanao Partylist representatives to Congress. AMIN is a party characterized by Tri-people (Moro, Lumad, Filipino), multi-sectoral (peasants, youth, urban poor, professionals, labor, fisher folks, etc.), and multi-formation (POs, federations, Coops, NGOs and individuals), organized to respond to the growing sentiments of the Mindanao peoples in affecting positive change in the country, particularly in Mindanao, by engaging the electoral politics through the Party-List System (RA 7941) election.

Ayi hails from the agricultural city of Gingoog, a component city of the province of Misamis Oriental. He is a father to three children, Gabrielle (12), Danielle (10) and Ysabella Miguelle (8) and a husband to Gesibelle Garcia-Hernandez, a development and peace worker too in Mindanao.

All photos by Belle Garcia Hernandez:

Ayi in Congress.

Ayi joins other newly proclaimed party list representatives take oath.

House Speaker Prospero Nograles leads the oath taking.

Full view of the oath-taking.

A pose after swearing in with the Secretary General of Congress, Atty. Marilyn B. Barua-Yap, 25 April 2009. Others in picture are Cong. Mujiv Hataman, Mis Or Provincial Board Member Peter Unabia, Balay Mindanaw s President Kaloy Manlupig and the Hernandez kids.