Breaking new grounds for peace in Aleosan

ALEOSAN, North Cotabato – Last Friday October 21, 2011, amidst the noise from media on the violence in Basilan down south of Mindanao, a small community of mostly Moro families in the town of Aleosan in the Province of North Cotabato was making a peaceful sound as its men, women and children celebrated the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a madrasah school building.

Such a unique way of building peace, an exceptional response to the call for peace not only for Barangay Dunguan in Aleosan but also for the rest of Mindanao.

This barangay, located just beside the Liguasan Marsh, had been through a long struggle with land conflicts, poverty, underdevelopment, depression caused by armed conflict between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Mass evacuations happen now and then. The declaration for an “all-out war” by then President Estrada in 2000, and later the eruption of violence after the aborted signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) between the government and the MILF peace panels in 2008, further aggravated the situation.


	Photo: Belle Garcia Hernandez

For the residents of Dunguan, who have been continually threatened by the long-standing conflict in Central Mindanao, the madrasah is a symbol of peace. It was a dream come true meant for the children and the next generations to come.

“This is the most important thing that happened to our village. We now have a school for our children,” Dunguan Barangay Chair Mholds Suga said.

Suga said it has always been a dream of their village to have a sturdy building for their madrasah, because they never had a building for the madrasah before, just utilizing a dilapidated building with no walls for the children’s classes.

“Madrasah is important for Muslims. This is where our children first learn to pray and learn Arabic. When a child learns Arabic, he can then read the Koran,” Suga said.

“We believe this undertaking will promote greater understanding in this village. This is a very meaningful collaboration of agencies and NGOs in conflict-affected areas,” said Paul Paraguya, executive director of Balay Mindanaw Foundation, Inc.

Aleosan Mayor Loreto Cabaya said he was glad that various agencies and organizations came to help fulfill the dream of the villagers in Barangay Dunguan.


Photo: Belle Garcia Hernandez

“Building the madrasah will bring back the trust of the villagers,” Cabaya said, noting that the village bore the brunt of the 2008 fighting between the government and the MILF.

Apart from the villagers and community leaders, the ceremony was attended by officials and organizations willing to help.

The municipal government of Aleosan led by Mayor Loreto Cabaya committed for the painting job and to provide facilities for the school once the building is completed. The 40th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, headed by LTC Roy Gallido, willingly offered his soldiers to provide labor along with the community laborers. The Balay Mindanaw and ABS-CBN Foundation’s Sagip Kapamilya promised to contribute for the construction materials. The Mission Station Parish Council, Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society, the women contingent of the Civilian Protection Component of the International Monitoring Team and the youth group are totally in support of this peace-development initiative.

Helping Build Empowered and Sustainable Communities in Mindanao. Helping Build Peace.