CRE Global Blog
Darkness and Light in November 2009
Posted by Shawn McElroy on January 05, 10
Posted by Shawn McElroy on behalf of Loreta Navarro Castro, Center for peace education, Miriam College, Quezon City, Philippines
My November 2009 began in an upbeat mood. I attended two successive conferences in South Korea in the early part of the month. The first conference focused on promoting interfaith understanding and the need to establish a Peace Education Center that can serve not only Korea but the Asian region as well. The second conference considered various themes (restorative justice, evaluation, conflict resolution education and peace education) and several members of the GPPAC Peace Education Working Group served as resource persons. (GPPAC stands for Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict). The full week in Korea was a happy time for me because both the conferences and the Peace Education Working Group meeting at the end of that week yielded fruitful results.
My hopeful mood continued when I returned to the Philippines. We conducted a Peace Education Training Workshop for Educators in South East Asia. There were 26 participants from seven countries in the region, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar/Burma, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Five ministries of education were represented and this augurs well for the future mainstreaming of peace education in the region. However, as the said participants were arriving in the Philippines, a gruesome crime was being committed in the Maguindanao province in the Southern Philippines. At least 57 civilians were massacred in the morning of November 23, an incident that is now etched in our nation’s memory as the most brutal politically motivated violence committed in the country. The massacre truly shocked and saddened us. (I prepared the draft of a Statement which was adopted as the official Miriam College Statement. Please see it below)
As the end of November approached, one thing became clear. The barbaric violence turned into a wake up call or a moment of awakening for the whole nation. There are now countless voices of protest, asking for an end to political warlordism, private armies, and the proliferation or firearms, as well as for the respect of human rights and the rule of law.
I hope that this dark November day would not be in vain. May it yield the kind of light that we seek, so that such an event will not happen again!
Extended Post begins...
Statement of the Miriam College Community
We are appalled and shocked by the gruesome crime that has been committed in Maguindanao.
Defenseless civilians- women, journalists, lawyers and even passersby- were brutally murdered and then dumped in mass graves. It is unfathomable how this barbaric act could have been contemplated in the first place. It is indeed a crime that cries for justice! It can only be surmised that the premeditated plan was hatched and carried out by the perpetrators with the belief that they could get away with it and they would be unpunished. Such is the culture of impunity that has now plagued our country!
We call on the government to end this culture of impunity. Perpetrators of crimes have to answer for their wrongdoings within a justice system that moves swiftly and without delay. They should not be coddled and rewarded with political favors. Private armies of warlords have to be disbanded and firearms have to be strictly controlled, because the presence of both had emboldened the perpetrators. This is the time to show the outraged Filipino people that the government can still act with resolute will and transparency as well as true respect for the rule of law. Inadequate government action now will only breed more violence.
We are one with the families of the victims and all people of peace who cry for immediate justice. With them, we demand that the government live up to its commitments to uphold human rights, to protect women, and to defend the rights of all sectors such as those of the media people and the lawyers to do their work unhampered by threats of violence. Stop the impunity and the killings that have so blighted our country!
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