Tri-people holds peace journey

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Written by Rasid Ladiasan
Friday, 24 October 2003
COTABATO CITY – Almost 120 tri-people from Mindanao advocating peace in the land visited the seat of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) here while in the course of their journey dubbed as “Panaw Alang Sa Panang-Ambit Alang Sa Kalinaw “ which started in Carmen, North Cotabato Wednesday (October 21) and will culminate today in Kapatagan, Lanao del Sur. ARMM Deputy Governor for Indigenous Peoples Timuway Gumbalia Gunsi told the delegation from Tagum, Malita, Davao del Sur, Gen. Santos City, Zamboanga del Sur, Agusan del Sur, Bukidnon and from Maguindanao that peace could only be achieved if there is development in the area. “Development should first take place - no development, no peace,” Gunsi said. Gunsi shared to the delegation that the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) are the poorest, the most marginalized sector in Mindanao but he encouraged the tri-people as he is confident that the tri-people will be better and could outdo from this condition by asking them “to be united and be one in the cause of the IPs”. Ben Abadiano, Programme Officer of TABANG-Mindanao, convenor of the activity, said the objective of the journey is seeing by themselves (the participants) the different realities of the areas and the life, and the situation of the people living in the communities. “The Panaw participants would just want to share their community initiatives to other communities. It is a venue for sharing experiences, the learnings from each others communities. They also share to the communities effective ways to overcome some problems arising in their respective areas,” Abadiano added. The journey, Abadiano said was made possible with the participation of TABANG partners involve in the rehabilitation. Among them, he said the Catholic Relief Services, United Nations Development Programme, Philippine Development Assistance Program and OXFAM. TABANG started in 1998 in response to the needs of the IPs and expanded in 2000 for the Muslims especially for the victims of the war in the region. A participant in the journey shared his idea of the “Panaw”. He said he joined the “Panaw” simply because “he wants to see peace community promotion towards widening peaceful settlement especially in the grassroots level.” He added that “initiatives of communities in recovering the adverse effects of war should be made possible as counter part in the peace process.” “The journey is an exposure for us to the conflict areas. This is the way we see different stages of rebuilding among the tri-people,” he stressed. The delegation spend thier first night in Pagalungan, North Cotabato and the culminating night in Kapatagan on tents.# Set as favorite Bookmark Email This Hits: 239 Trackback(0) TrackBack URI for this entry Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Website Title Comment smaller \| bigger Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage. Write the displayed characters