The 3rd Mindanao Grassroots Women Conference was set on May 4-7, 2007, amidst the backdrop of midterm election of local and national leaders in the whole Philippines, extra-judicial killings of political activists and journalists, and the stalled peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
A day before the scheduled Conference, women leaders from the different communities in Mindanao started arriving at the Mindanao Tri-People Women Resource Center (MTWRC) office. Bone-weary from the long travel, they still swap stories to update each other of what’s happening in their respective communities especially their involvement in the local elections.
Making the Grassroots’ Voices Heard
Early the next morning, “Inah,” (a Moro term for mother), an elderly woman leader from the Municipality of Datu Paglat arrived bearing a box, she said that it contained bananas that she wanted to contribute to the Conference despite the difficulties it entailed for her to transport the product to the City of Cotabato and the venue.. She came from a banana-producing community. Most of the participants that attended the 3rd Mindanao Grassroots Women Conference were like Inah, ordinary women, who came from the grassroots communities in Mindanao.
The activity was supposed to gather one hundred fifty (150) women leaders and peace activists coming from the grassroots tri-people communities of Mindanao. When we said tri-people, it refers to the Bangsamoro people, The Katawhang Lumad (or Indigenous Peoples) and the Mindanao Migrants and their Descendants. The latter are those who migrated to Mindanao and/or already descendants of those migrants who settled to Mindanao long ago. However, some of the expected participants were not able to make it since they were actively and directly involved in the local electoral campaigns. The participants were also a mixture of “old and new”, as there were some who came from newly organized clusters of the Mindanao Tri-people Women Forum (MTWF) like Basilan and Sulu. The last two provinces are situated in the far south of Mindanao.
Looking back, this year’s conference is the third time that the grassroots tri-people women in Mindanao came together. On its first gathering in 2001 after the declaration of “All Out War” of former President Joseph Estrada in 2000, the tri-people women took stock of its situation as constant victims of the wars in Mindanao, whether big or small. With the magnitude of displacements of families, women often find themselves in evacuation centers or refugee camps. There, they were left to suffer the indignities of war, the pain of losing a love one, losing a home and livelihood, yet, have to be strong to keep together what remained of her family and to survive. Thus, the tri-people women joined in the call for a Stop to the War in Mindanao and for peaceful resolution of conflicts in the first Mindanao Tri-People Women Conference.
Mujahidens for Peace
It was also in that first gathering that the tri-people women, especially those coming from the conflict-prone communities, asserted that they no longer wanted to remain as victims to all these violence but rather be active workers and builders of peace. As one former Moro woman mujahiden (fighter) shared during that Conference, “…during the war between the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) in the 1970s, I had no choice but to get involved than watched my sons and brothers getting killed in the battlefields protecting our lands…” She was a medical auxiliary of the Moro rebels, that is, she would carry the wounded combatants to safe places and facilitate them to get medical services. Before that, she bore witness to the death of one her sons who got hit with a bomb as they tried to flee their community which was then undersieged. Her husband and son were Moro fighters so she had no choice but to participate in the struggle because she wanted her family to survive.
The first conference brought forth all those stories of suffering, pain, emotional, psychological and physical trauma felt by the tri-people women but most of all it unburdened the grassroots tri-people women of all the emotional baggage and angst that they harbor inside all those years. It also ushered in small openings for healing and reconciliation among and between deeply divided communities.
Journey of Peace
The first conference was not the first and last attempt to provide the tri-people women avenue for similar meetings as it paved the way to the formation of the Mindanao Tri-People Women Forum (MTWF), originally founded by more than seventy (70) grassroots women organizations coming from different areas in Mindanao and a few months after the Mindanao Tri-People Women Resource Center (MTWRC). It served as the impetus for many discussions, fora and summits discussing the role of women in the peacebuilding process in Mindanao and the coming up of the Tri-People Women Peace Agenda. So that in the year 2003, the Lumad Women or Indigenous Women in Mindanao launched its Lumad Women Summit which resulted to the formation of the Mindanao Council of Lumad Women (MCLW). More importantly, they were able to come with their Peace Agenda which they presented to the peace panels of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP). It’s worthy to note that the said initiative was supported by the Women Peacemakers Program of IFOR.
The coming up of a unified Peace Agenda among the tri-people women in Mindanao is still being pursued. The Bangsamoro and Mindanao Migrants and their Descendants also hoped to come up with their respective People’s Peace Agenda. Consultations and discussions had started on these initiatives like the venue provided by the Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Movement (MPPM) last December 9-17, 2006 when it hold its 8-Day Journey of Peace in Southern Philippines that included the 4-day 4th Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Summit. Though women comprised only 35% of the total five hundred two (502) participants to the summit, the woman participation to the discussions, fora and workshops was very dynamic and vibrant. In fact, it was the first time in the summit of the peace movement that thematic workshops were conducted and one of these workshops were on Peace and Women Empowerment. There were so many issues brought forth during the workshop that is why it was recommended that there should be another level of discussion on these issues. The grassroots women also asserted that the resolutions of the workshop can be made part of the Tri-people Women Peace Agenda, however, a more intensive discussion should be undergone for this. It was resolved during that workshop in the peace summit that the women of the Bangsamoro and Mindanao Migrants and their Descendants should also have a similar People’s summit like the Lumad women so that they can each come up with People’s Agenda.
It was very heartening to see the grassroots women taking the journey of peace last December. It was the first time for a number of them to venture out of their communities and discover the beauty and richness of the islands of Mindanao. Most of them were awed to see so many kindred spirits advocating for peace and strengthened the feeling of solidarity that ran across the women peace delegates. They even had the chance to meet the International Peace Delegation, who were mostly women coming from Holland, Mollucas and Ethiopia. The women delegates of the International Peace Delegation were from the MWPN (Multicultural Women Peacemakers Network) in Netherlands who were also assisted before by the Women Peacemakers Program of IFOR.
With the above resolutions serving as the backdrop, the Mindanao Tri-People Women Resource Center (MTWRC) and the Mindanao tri-People Women Forum (MTWF), launched the 3rd Grassroots Mindanao Conference with support from the Women Peacemakers Program of IFOR, and two other funding organizations ( Women World Day of Prayer in Germany and Entraide et Fraternite of Belgium). The event was very timely as it allows the women to get updates on the status of the peace process between the GRP and MILF and the challenge of the role that the tri-people women played in the said peace process. And with the national elections at hand, it also provided a very good venue for the participants to study the track record of candidates in terms of passing legislation favoring the advancement of the rights of women. With various workshops, plenary, input, sharings, immediate, short term and long term resolutions were came up by the Assembly.
Spaces for Peace
The Mindanao-wide Tri-people Women Conference had already become part and parcel of the of the grassroots-based peace processes wherein women leaders and organizers coming from the historically antagonistic communities of the Bangsamoro, Katawhang Lumad Lumad and Mindanao Migrants and their Descendants discussed cultural diversities, gender, and the peace initiatives.The significant role of the tri-people women in the peace processes created space for them to come together and discuss alternative models of peace intervention based on their own experiences.
As one Mindanaon women peace activist passionately said, “…the tri-people women believe that the current reality and the future are not predetermined, but are always in a process of creation, thus, a peace building model that takes mutual recognition of the values of different cultures as an initial factor of reconciliation will lead to an understanding and solidarity between the tri-people.”
The initiatives done by the tri-people women are also reflection of the peace efforts of the tri-people peace network especially in the grassroots communities. The clamor for peace and for the grassroots tri-peoples’ involvement in peacebuilding activities signified that they wanted to be part and parcel in determining their future.
The tri-people peace network envisions that like the current peace process, it will be consulted by the government and the different revolutionary groups and that mechanism for genuine people participation in whatever peace processes in Mindanao will be undertaken by the government in the future will be provided. The road to peace in Mindanao is full of pitfalls and crossroads, however, through the unity of the tri-people amidst its cultural, religious and political diversity which helps provide a favorable environment for peace initiatives to prosper, the seeds of peace that are currently planted in the hearts and minds of the grassroots tri-people communities would take root and bloom.