Consultation participants in Barangay Dunguan.

Three sets of Local Peace Consultations (LPCs) have already been conducted in Barangays Dunguan, New Panay and Palacat in the municipality of Aleosan in North Cotabato. For the span of three days, residents of each barangay jointly discussed, prioritized and validated issues related to human resource development, land use, agriculture and aquatic resources, economic development, and development administration. They also jointly identified at least 10 sectoral priority programs and projects in response to each of the sectors’ concerns. With the Barangay Technical Working Group (BTWG) created, the consultation outputs were finalized and packaged as the Barangay Peace and Development Plans (BPDP) for 2011-2013 or as supplemental or an amendment to their existing plans.

The first ever LPC was conducted in Barangay Dunguan,on November 23-25, 2010. Dunguan is a community purely dominated by Moro residents. One Ustadz shared that it was the first time that an activity such as the LPC was undertaken in their barangay. He said it gave him the opportunity to meet some of the residents he did not meet before even though he has living in the barangay for a long time. In the course of the discussion, one farmer, when asked how is he now after the war, replied: “We have the 3 H – we are happy, helpful and hopeful that our present situation will change.” This he said with a smile.

The second LPC was conducted in Barangay Palacat, with an equal mix of Lumads and Christians.

The conduct of LPC in Barangay New Panay was done only last February 23-25. Workshop participants were half Moro and half Christians, happily interacting with each other.

Planning the barangay.

Around 330 Moro, Lumad, and Christian residents participated in the three-day participatory planning process. To them, it was a rare moment of coming together, participating in analyzing their present situation, identifying their problems, prioritizing and planning for their future. The activity ensured their meaningful participation in planning and decision-making over the entire implementation of their programs and projects which will strengthen their capacity and make them capable in handling their own development.

After the activity a Barangay Technical Working Group (BTWG) was organized to validate the data and come up with a more appropriate and realistic output. The formulated plans will then be the basis for appropriate intervention and will also become a tool for convergence between and among partners who are willing to share their resources for the community. Partners coming from the NADESCOM, the 40th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, provincial and municipal officials were present to show their support for the activity.

The people realized that a good and relevant BPDP is based on the present condition of the barangay, maximizing the participation of the representativesof the different sectors in order for them to impart their ideas, their needs, and their vision for their own community.A barangay kagawad from New Panay noted that nobody can say that what they did was wrong because they were the ones who did it. He realizes that this is what “real ownership” is all about.“We the people in the barangays should make and decidethe plans for our future,” he stressed.

This we hope to replicate in Barangay Pagangan, and in more barangays in Aleosan and in the PALMA Alliance (Pigcawayan, Alamada, Libungan, Midsayap, Aleosan) as well.