Fall / Winter 2006
Positive Signs in the Philippines
Annabel Manalo
Fewer people from the Philippines are coming to EMU’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) now than were coming in the late 1990s. This is good.
It is a sign that fewer Filipinos are embroiled in violent conflicts than in the 1990s. It is also a sign that many of the 34 Filipinos trained over the years at SPI are now setting up their own training centers, relying on their own expertise and experience.
Happily, they have less need to come to EMU.
Despite positive steps toward peace, serious, life-threatening issues do remain in the Philippines. Depending on the area of the country, these issues may be tied to a Communist insurgency, the rights of indigenous peoples, and Muslim-Christian relations.
Since 2000, aspiring Filipino peace workers have been able to attend classes at the Mindano Peacebuilding Institute (MPI), which is modeled after SPI. (See a related story about similar peace centers sprouting.)
In a 2005 visit to MPI, CJP co-director Ruth Zimmerman found MPI to be “vibrantly healthy,” having won the respect of everyone from grassroots activists to high government officials in its first few years of operation.
As another sign of success, the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) closed its Philippine operations this past year, choosing to shift its resources to areas of the world more in need of its “seeds of peace.” A dozen of the most active peace workers in the Philippines today were sent by MCC to EMU for training in the mid- to late 1990s.
These years MPI trains about 100 peacebuilders from the Philippines and some 30 other countries. In addition, the premier Christian university in the Philippines, Silliman in Dumaguete City, is working toward setting up a masters’ degree program in conflict transformation. Former CJP director Vernon Jantzi and other faculty members have served as resource persons for this.
For more information, download the "People of CJP" PDF and read the “Asia and Pacific” section.