“The soldier always fervently prays for peace. For the soldier, of all people, will suffer the deepest wounds of war.”
Borrowing these words of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Vice Adm. Edgar Abogado, who heads the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), said the school is not training cadets to be soldiers proficient at killing the enemy but to be active agents of peace.
“Yes, you may not believe it, but the soldiers are the very first people who pray for peace, who pray that the conflict among warring brothers be put to an end, and who pray that no more blood be shed in the battlefield,” he said during the Multistakeholders Engagement and Community Development training workshop for civilian and military professors at the International Center for Peace in Mindanaw (IC Peace in Mindanaw) of the Balay Mindanaw Foundation Inc. (BMFI) recently.
The training workshop was designed to help PMA professors understand the concept of peace-building and teach them how to integrate peace-building and multistakeholder engagement into the PMA curriculum, as it gave them the opportunity to better understand the dynamics of multistakeholder-engagement processes.
In particular, the training allowed the PMA professors to analyze the dynamics of a community situation and identify stakeholders with their perspectives and interests; develop strategies for effective communication and interactions with their stakeholders; and formulate key learning objectives and design key processes for the cadets’ deepening understanding of community development through multistakeholders engagement and partnership as key to peace-building work.
“The integration of peace-building courses in the curriculum endeavors to equip cadets to become peace-builders and not just combatants,” Abogado stressed as he explained that “peace curriculum” completes the tripod of the Armed Forces’ Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP) Bayanihan that will eventually “shape our cadets as professional soldiers [who are] ready and capable of undertaking Civic Military Operations [CMO] activities as part of the counter-insurgency equation. This is PMA’s contribution to the new but noble role of the Armed Forces.”
Maj. Ronald Illana, PMA assistant chief of staff for education, plans and programs, said that PMA has tapped the “peace expertise” of the BMFI in the achievement of that vision.
PMA’s first engagement with the BMFI was on February 2012 during a training-workshop for the graduating PMA Class of 2012 to help them better understand peace-building and conflict transformation.
This was followed by the Trainors’ Training for PMA faculty mmbers in May 2012 at the IC Peace in Mindanaw, and a case writing workshop in Manila in August 2012.
PMA and BMFI formally forged their partnership with the signing of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) on January 23, 2012, symbolizing their mutual commitments to help each other. The MOA also allows the BMFI to help the PMA in mainstreaming peace-building modules in its curriculum.
“This MOA was jointly crafted by PMA and Balay, and its primary purpose is for BMFI to provide assistance to PMA to build its capacity for conflict management and peace-building toward the institutionalization of peace-building and multistakeholder engagement in the academy, following the IPSP of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” Illana said.
On June 28, the “Soldiers for Peace” forum was held at the PMA in an effort to:
Impart the wealth of experience of soldiers who were into peace-building, their insights, mind-sets, challenges and orientation on peace-building in their areas of responsibility; and
Share the reflections of the partners of the military in the area like the non-governmental organizations and local governments in implementing peace efforts through collaboration and partnerships at the local level.
The forum, which was attended by 234 first-class cadets and tactical officers, PMA coordinating staff officers and military officers from the headquarters Academic group, had as speakers former Lt. Gen. Raymundo B. Ferrer (Ret.), former Eastern Mindanao Command chief; Brig. Gen. Lysander Suerte, deputy commander of the Central Command (CenCom); and Lt. Col. Krishnamurti Mortela, commander of the 67th Infantry Battalion of the 10th Infantry “Agila” Division. They shared their experiences in peace-building and community development. All three are senior fellows of the IC Peace in Mindanaw and regularly teach-speak at BMFI’s Operation Peace Course (OP Kors!) training workshops.
“The PMA is very much aware of the significance that these peace efforts may carve in Philippine history. So, a command directive was approved by the superintendent, which specifed that peace concepts shall be integrated in the PMA curriculum, specifically community development, international humanitarian law and leadership concept. This formally indicates that the PMA is serious in reinforcing the integration of peace-building, one of the pillars of the IPSP Bayanihan, in its curriculum. Aside from that, we have programmed immersion of cadets in local communities which will serve as their laboratories on community-based peace and development efforts. This is to teach cadets on how to engage stakeholders,” Illana said.
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