Daycare workers are among the most neglected sectors in government, receiving meager salaries and benefits and enjoying no security of tenure. Moreover, most daycare centers face the perennial problem of having inadequate facilities and being at the bottom of the local governments’ list of priorities. At times, they even unwittingly get entangled in conflicts between local politicians. In addition, there are parents who question the individual capability of daycare workers.

These were the common woes aired by daycare workers from Gingoog City and the towns of Claveria and Lagonglong in Misamis Oriental who attended a peace-building course, on August 19-24, at Balay Mindanaw’s International Center for Peace in Cagayan de Oro City. All of them in fact waxed sentimental upon watching the internationally acclaimed movie “Mga Munting Tinig” (Small Voices), as the story’s plot portrays the realities they confront daily in their barangays – a hardly functional school system, sense of helplessness amid abject poverty, armed conflict, and hard choices.

Such realities seeped in more deeply as the participants huddled in workshops and eagerly responded to the attempts of the resource persons to draw out from them personal experiences that would relate to the topics. In at least one instance, participants from the same municipality became emotional when the discussion shifted to a perceived conflict that occurred during the election period involving a priest and a local politician. The adrenalin rush however did not take long to die down as they were fully aware that they were there not to quarrel but to learn and share ways of resolving and preventing conflicts in their own ways as mentors of young minds.

Perhaps it was the irony of their situation as playing a crucial role in developing young minds but being neglected at the same time that fueled the eagerness to speak their minds. As Balay Mindanaw executive director Ariel Hernandez, speaking during the closing rites of the training, summed up the participants’ role in peace-building: “The big challenge is to instill peace concepts among daycare children. Instill value of tolerance to erase discrimination among cultures.”

Earlier, however, the participants knew it’s not that easy to do away with inter-cultural discrimination. Mindanao historian Rudy “Ompong” Rodil and former government peace negotiator asked them pointblank the following questions: “Are you willing to befriend a Moro? Live in one house with a Moro? Marry a Moro? Allow your child to marry a Moro?” He threw the questions to emphasize how deeply anti-Moro prejudices have seeped into the consciousness of most Christians, a reality that showed in their reluctance to give straightforward answers.

Ompong’s questions brought home the message that peace-building requires knowing the roots of a given conflict. As a participant put it, “We should thresh out the conflict among us (Christians and Muslims).”

But as daycare workers, the participants knew that their primary role as members of the peace-building community is to instill the culture of peace in the minds and hearts of young children. They were uncertain though if they can perform this role without adequate support from government agencies and officials.

If it was any assurance, Teddy Sabugaa, head of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office, said the province has initiated steps to institutionalize and professionalize the daycare system. He cited that they have started talks with the Misamis Oriental State College of Agriculture and Technology (MOSCAT) for the inclusion of a daycare course in the school curriculum. “If the daycare workers have diploma, the parents will no longer grumble,” he added.

Sabugaa also announced that once they have finalized things with MOSCAT the provincial government will amend the existing Children’s Code so that accredited daycare workers (those with diplomas) cannot just be removed at the whim of local officials. He agreed with the observation that the daycare system has been affected by politics.

He, however, cautioned that “no government in the world can provide for all. What is important is to bring government closer to the people. This should be in every government worker’s mind as he or she performs his or her job.”