“It is important to see peace building as a process rather than a goal and not to view it from the perspective of achieving a ‘negative peace’- that is, the ending of armed conflict. Rather it should be understood, from the perspective of a ‘positive’ and sustainable peace that ensures security as well as socio-economic, structural, political and cultural stability, and that reduces the likelihood of relapse into or the continuation of violence” (Chimni, 2003; Lily 2004)
Now named as Balay Mindanaw International Peace Center in Mindanaw, it is place dedicated to the peoples and communities in Mindanao as they continue to empower themselves and strive to attain equity, development and peace.
It is a Peace Center.
Balay Mindanaw humbly offers this Center as its contribution to everyone’s task of seeking and building peace. It has a Peace Room (not a war room) that offers learning resources for peace-builders. The Center will also be the venue for various short and long-term peace courses.
It will also be the venue for the various activities related to the on-going peace processes especially between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Revolutionary Workers’ Party-Mindanao (RPM-M).
It is a formation house for development workers and peace-builders.
It has state-of-the-art but modest facilities for workshops, conferences, seminars and courses especially on the broad aspects of sustainable integrated area development (SIAD), conflict transformation and peace-building.
It will be the main site for Balay Mindanaw in-house center-based initiatives and activities that help promote and facilitate human and institutional capacity-building, awareness-building, nurturance and enrichment of indigenous knowledge and technologies, and deepening of commitment to development and peace-building work.
It is the home of the Balay Mindanaw Family.
The Center also serves as the main base of operations of Kab-ot Gahum: Resource Center for Empowerment and Development (RCED), Katilingbanong Pamahandi sa Mindanaw Foundation Inc. (KPMFI) and Balay Mindanaw Foundation, Inc (BMFI), – three of the six independent development NGOs that believe in the same vision. As such, it is fondly called "our ancestral home."
It is not intended to be a commercial lodging facility for walk-in or drive-in clients.
The Center is not a business enterprise or a commercial facility as it is considered to be part and parcel of Balay Mindanaw’s package of programs. However, partners from various people’s organizations, communities, tribes, churches, local government units and government agencies, NGOs and others who wish to seek the services, resources and hospitality of the Center are considered and accepted warmly as house guests.
When we began our journey in 1996, all we envisioned was for a few Mindanaoans to continue serving Mindanao unobtrusively right here in Mindanao thru a vehicle called Balay Mindanaw.
From the very beginning, we have always wanted Balay Mindanaw to be Mindanao-rooted, Mindanao-based, Mindanao-focused and Mindanaoan-led.We have always wanted to contribute modestly but significantly to the building of a home that is truly Mindanaoan.
Balay Mindanaw’s vision has been very clear ever since we took the very first step of our journey:EQUITY, DEVELOPMENT, PEACE.For Mindanao, the Philippines, the World.
With our self-imposed mission of Helping Build Empowered Sustainable and Peaceful Communities, we began doing what were closest to our hearts:
1.Journeying with the Mindanaoan landless farmers as they pursue their struggle for ownership of their farmlands.
2.Holding hands with fellow Mindanaoans in our struggle for political parity and economic equity.
From working for land rights and political parity, we soon discovered the wisdom of partnership as the principles of Sustainable Integrated Area Development (SIAD) became clearer and more real to us.From sending our first SIADO to one barangay in Claveria, Misamis Oriental, we soon found ourselves engaged in fruitful and principled partnerships with more than a hundred barangays, the local government units and the Higaonon tribal communities in Misamis Oriental, Davao del Sur and Loreto, Dinagat Island.
By 2004, the work for peace became clearer to us.Finally, the three key words have become alive in our work:equity, development, peace.Our engagement as independent mediator and independent secretariat in the peace process between the Philippine Government and the Mindanao-based Communist group, RPMM, opened so many doors for us.As we began to understand the essence of peacebuilding better, we began to become peacebuilders ourselves.
We continue to strive to bridge divides.We work in principled partnership both with the government military and police, and the non-state combatants in their efforts to transform themselves into builders of just and lasting peace.
We have modified our mission statement to reflect our newfound clarity of work:Helping Build Empowered Sustainable Communities.Helping Build Peace.
The peacebuilding community welcomed us and opened the doors to meaningful engagements beyond Mindanao, beyond the Philippines, and even beyond Asia.Our involvement with Action Asia has given us the chance to contribute modestly to peacebuilding work in Cambodia, East Timor, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.
We are also proud of our Peace Center, now named International Center for Peace in Mindanaw (ICPeace in Mindanaw), which is a tribute to the Mindanaoan peoples’ and communities’ quest to build their own peace.
From one small NGO called Balay Mindanaw Foundation Inc. (BMFI) in May 8, 1996, we began helping give birth to like-minded and like-hearted NGOs:
The Resource Center for Empowerment and Development (Kab-ot Gahum: RCED) in April 27, 2000 – to pursue and enhance Balay Mindanaw’s work in empowerment thru research, information and education;
Balay Alternative Legal Advocates for the Development of Mindanaw (BALAOD Mindanaw) in August 11, 2000 – to pursue and enhance Balay Mindanaw’s work in paralegalism and access to justice;
Balay Dabaw Sur Foundation, Inc. (BDSI) in August 1, 2002 – to sustain Balay Mindanaw’s work in Southern Mindanao; and more recently,
Katilingbanong Pamahandi sa Mindanaw Foundation, Inc. (KPMFI) in October 17, 2006 - for social enterprise; and
Bangko sa Balay Foundation, Inc. (BBFI) in October 16, 2007 for microfinance.
It is not enough to be relevant.We have to be sustainable. We have always believed in staying small to ensure our sustainable relevance and relevant sustainability. We have always been open to constant learning and unlearning, and in constant re-invention.
This openness has allowed us to venture into the realm of social enterprise and fair financing. Believing that inequity, poverty and unpeace could and should be addressed where they are, the two newest BM NGOs, KPMFI and BBFI, seek to transform skewed economic relationships at the lowest possible level:the household in the barangay.
The journey has been full of challenges.The journey has been meaningful.The journey has been fruitful.
Now named as Balay Mindanaw International Peace Center in Mindanaw, it is place dedicated to the peoples and communities in Mindanao as they continue to empower themselves and strive to attain equity, development and peace.
Balay Mindanaw humbly offers this Center as its contribution to everyone’s task of seeking and building peace. It has a Peace Room (not a war room) that offers learning resources for peace-builders. The Center will also be the venue for various short and long-term peace courses.
It has state-of-the-art but modest facilities for workshops, conferences, seminars and courses especially on the broad aspects of sustainable integrated area development (SIAD), conflict transformation and peace-building.
