Peace advocates and civil society organization leaders are
giving major recognition to the important role that women play in transforming
conflict-affected areas back into productive communities and in sustaining the
gains of the Bangsamoro peace process to ensure its continuation in the next
Administration despite the 16th Congress’ failure to enact the proposed
Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).
“To hold the peace together requires great effort, work, and
coordination. I must stress that it takes a community working together to
achieve that,” said Xarifa Lao-Sanguila, National Civilian Protection Monitor
of Nonviolent Peaceforce, in a forum on women’s role in the peace process held
at Miriam College.
“There are so many things that need to be done on the ground
to mitigate conflict… (that are) immediate and doable by every Juana CSO and
peace advocates,” she added.
Sanguila pointed out that women have proven to be good in
conducting the series of listening workshops for the Bangsamoro communities
that provide peaceful platforms for reflective expressions of their anger and
frustrations due to the non-passage of the BBL.
She also urged women leaders to strongly lobby with the
provincial peace and order councils (PPOC) in the Bangsamoro region to pass
resolutions compelling the Army and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to
observe and respect the established ceasefire mechanisms.
“(We need) to institutionalize and strengthen the women-led
local early warning systems for war rumor management and information validation,”
she said.
Meanwhile, Gaston Z. Ortigas (GZO), Peace Institute
Executive Director Karen Tañada also encouraged active women’s participation in
the peace process and uphold the signed peace agreements between the Government
of the Philippines (GPH) and the MILF.
"We have to see the gains of the peace negotiations. We
have the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) that guarantees all
human rights including women's rights of meaningful political participation,”
Tañada said.
“It takes a village to complete a nation and women to
complete one. To sustain the peace gains at the time of no BBL, we have to
build a path forward to help the next administration hit the ground running.”
She added that the reaffirmation of both peace panels and
other stakeholders to their commitment in pursuing the peace process despite
its uncertainty were vital in stabilizing the peace and order situation in Mindanao .
"The women in Mindanao
have their own gains in the GPH-MILF peace process. There are no more wars and
a chance for development (for their families and children),” Tañada said.
Women paved way to successful peace negotiations
Meanwhile, GPH peace panel chair Professor Miriam
Coronel-Ferrer stressed that the success of the peace negotiations with the
MILF that resulted in the signing of the CAB and the Framework Agreement on the
Bangsamoro (FAB) were not only out of patience and understanding of the two
sides but also of the collective effort of various stakeholders especially
women.
“We celebrate the women's month not as observers or mere
recipients of initiatives but as active partners in the peace process. The
peace gains were the product of many efforts of so many committed women,”
Ferrer said.
“Relative peace had enabled the women in the Bangsamoro core
territories to organize themselves. We have new and thriving women's
organizations in the conflict-affected areas. These are the products of
sustained peace and relative stability in the region.”
New York-based International Peace Institute (IPI) have
hailed both Ferrer and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary
Teresita Quintos Deles as ideal women peacemakers for their key roles in the
government peace talks with the MILF and Communist Party of the Philippines/New
People's Army/National Democratic Front (NDF).
Deles is the country’s first woman presidential peace
adviser while Ferrer is the first female chief negotiator in the world to sign
a major peace agreement. The CAB itself is a landmark document signed by three
women signatories -– one-half of the 6-person GPH negotiating team, and about
one-fourth of the total number of signatories.
In March, 2015, during the ASEAN Institute for Peace and
Reconciliation (AIPR) workshop on Strengthening Women's Participation in Peace
Process and Conflict Resolution Secretary Deles said that "whatever role
women play in peace building, states must ensure that they stand as important
players on the decision-making table as agreements are negotiated and after
they have been signed and throughout their implementation."
“Women are the harbingers of human security in any peace
agreement. They ensure, as stated in the mandate of my office, a principled and
peaceful resolution to internal armed conflict, with neither blame nor
surrender, but with dignity for all concerned.
Last April 2015, Ferrer also accepted the 2015 Hillary
Clinton Award for Advancing Women in Peace and Security held at Georgetown University
in Washington , D.C. Philippines
The chief negotiator also maintained that not everything in
the Bangsamoro peace roadmap was lost because of the non-passage of the BBL and
that there are the other aspects of the CAB that remains to be implemented.
"The BBL was not passed but it doesn't mean that the
road was blocked. The roadmap is there, we just need to be patient and work
hard," Ferrer said.
“Our goal is not to annihilate everyone. Our goal in this
peace process is to make the armed groups and other people see that there is a
peaceful way to settle things,” she added.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=864612
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