Philippines: Dialogue Instead of Violence

Derek Sanico is part of the Kutawato Multimedia Network (KuMuNet), a project partner of forumZFD. The network emerged from a series of journalism and multimedia workshops organized by forumZFD. Since 2013, it has been broadcasting the one-hour weekly radio program "Bangsamoro Today: The Voice of Peace", which reports on the Bangsamoro peace process and gives a voice to all parties involved in this conflict.

To better understand the background to this conflict in Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines, it helps to take a look back in history. Despite being the majority population in Mindanao before, Muslim Filipinos have been progressively displaced and marginalized throughout the Spanish colonial period from the 16th to the late 19th century as well through US colonization in the 20th century. Particularly the aggressive internal migration policy that brought Filipinos from Northern and Central Philippines to Mindanao reduced Muslim Filipinos to a minority and led to economic, social, and cultural marginalization by the central government and the dominant population. Triggered by the Jabidah massacre, during which as many as 68 Muslim Filipino army recruits were murdered, the lingering tensions led to a secessionist movement advanced by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). Originally a derogatory term used by the Spanish colonizers to describe Muslim Filipinos, the movement adopted the term “Moro” as a collective identity uniting the thirteen Islamized ethnolinguistic groups in Mindanao. 

Throughout the conflict, several attempts at peace negotiations were made including a peace agreement between the MNLF and the Philippine government in 1996 that established the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Disappointed with the concessions made by the MNLF’s leaders, a splinter group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), formed and continued the armed struggle. Renewed peace negotiations with the MILF finally led to a formal peace agreement in 2014 that established the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) as confirmed by referendum in 2019. Currently, the autonomous region is in a transition phase that allows for normalization, decommissioning and the creation of the necessary legal and administrative structures to set up the autonomous region. The peace process as well as the transition phase is closely accompanied by civil society organizations, including those Derek Sanico is involved in. 

The Long Road to Healing

Although Derek does not come from a Moro family, his family has been traumatized over generations leaving a painful legacy and fostering resentment. A total of 19 of Derek’s family members lost their lives due to the conflict. The experiences of loss and grief have been passed down from generation to generation. As a child, he saw all Moros as responsible for his losses, seeing them as enemies and longed for justice. "That's what our parents taught us", Derek explains in the podcast.

It was only through his volunteer work with KuMuNet and a related conflict transformation training by forumZFD that Derek recognized the real causes of the violence. Engaging with peace and conflict topics allowed Derek to broaden his understanding and to reflect on the root causes of the conflict. "At the beginning of my volunteer work, when I saw aid packages going to Moros, I didn’t give them everything that was in the packages", he confesses. Healing his own wounds was a months-long struggle, during which he gradually understood that Moros were also victims of the conflict.

The training also involved learning about the parts of Mindanaoan history that are not usually taught in mainstream education. Not only does this provide a more nuanced look at conflict dynamics and root causes of violent conflicts in the region, it also highlights the histories of peace and good relationships between different identity groups. The potential of teaching this part of Mindanaoan history is also at the basis of forumZFD’s project on Mindanao Histories and Studies, which has been advocating for an integration of Mindanaoan narratives into mainstream education for the past years. 

Derek Sanico hosting the radio program "Bangsamoro Ngayon" with KuMuNet and forumZFD.

© forumZFD

Projects against Hatred

Today, Derek organizes training sessions lasting several days to promote dialogue between the diverse sectors of the Bangsamoro society and to overcome old misconceptions and stereotypes. Derek describes how re-establishing trust is an essential element of the peace process and a requirement for the transition phase to become a success. He shares that those communities that have undergone peacebuilding interventions show higher levels of social cohesion, which itself is a precondition for living conditions to improve for the whole community. 

The participants of the trainings led by Derek include religious leaders, local politicians, and community leaders. Contextualized to the needs of the community and building on their existing expertise, they are taught practical skills on how to resolve conflicts peacefully. The aim is not only to acquire this knowledge in theory, but also to be able to apply it in practice.

As implementation of the provisions in the peace agreement is ongoing, the need for peacebuilding work is even greater in order to sustain the gains made thus far. Derek emphasizes the importance of continuous peacebuilding with a fitting comparison: "Peace work is like stacking blocks – every now and then a block falls over and has to be reset."