The Lawig Kalinaw (or Peace Journey), a movement of peace builders, has been acclaimed as new member of the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) of Misamis Oriental, thanks to the stories of learning from the community leaders who were graduates of Peacebuilding Courses. This has motivated the Council and its Executive Director, Teddy Sabuga-a, to consider the movement, based in the province, as part of the government-mandated mechanism to discuss resolutions to peace and conflict issues in the province.

In a special meeting of the PPOC in September 8, 2010 presided by Vice Governor Norris Babiera in lieu of Governor Oscar Moreno, the Executive Order expanding the present composition of the council, specifically including the National Commission on Interfaith Dialogues and the “Lawig Kalinaw” Movement, was finally passed.

Lawig Kalinaw is a growing peace movement of 1,800 individuals who were mostly graduates of Operation Peace Course: A Comprehensive Course on Conflict Management and Peacebuilding facilitated by Balay Mindanaw. Around 400 are key leaders of Peoples’ Organizations (POs) – farmers, lumads and women, members of the barangay councils, and other peace-seeking structures in three areas of Misamis Oriental, namely, Gingoog City, Eastern towns of Misamis Oriental (called MISORET) and the municipality of Claveria. The rest are coming from the military, police, academe, NGOs and other like-minded groups who continuously believe and work for peace to be a possibility in Mindanao, in the Philippines and in the World.

For the year, the Lawig Kalinaw Movement of Misamis Oriental has identified five major concerns which were already discussed at the level of the PPOC: massive drug abuse among youths/out-of-school youths; child abuse (incestuous rapes) and harassments, reportedly common among those aged 6 to 9; child labor or exploitation of children below 15 years old; domestic violence, still treated as family affairs; insecurity of tenure and other access to justice issues that commonly include ejectment/filing of cases against the tenants, overlapping claims of lands (alienable and disposable vs. ancestral domain) and massive logging; carnapping; and theft or even looting in some far-flung barangays.

One area that is now treated as special area of convergence among PPOC members due to the pressing and conflict-driven situation is in Sitio Sio-an in Barangay Malinao, Gingoog City. With Balay Mindanaw and the Katilingbanong Pamahandi sa Mindanaw (the social enterprise institution of Balay Mindanaw), the PPOC conducted a week-long Barangay Peace and Development Planning (BPDP) middle of last year in the area. The locals who participated in the workshop had identified the following as priority needs of the residents who are mostly Higaunons: dam construction (Lingayon river), rice/corn mill, solar drier, fertilizer/seed support, reforestation/nursery project, technology assistance against alcueres in abaca, livelihood projects (piggery, goat, backyard broiler), carabao dispersal, CADT approval (Odliba), patrol base/detachment installation, and community dialogues most importantly among Higaunons and settlers in the area. According to them, all these when not immediately addressed would lead to proliferation of crimes, killings of Higaunon leaders, and other forms of disorder in the communities.

Among the community-based members of the movement, they have organized an ad hoc committee at the cluster level to ensure regular discussions – information dissemination, updating, and monitoring among member peacebuilders in the barangays. The three peacebuilders to represent Lawig Kalinaw at the PPOC are Leonardo Quidet (Claveria), Edgardo Olano (MISORET), and Darwin Sambalod (Gingoog City).