Young Peace builders from different areas of Bangsamoro region actively participate in the Bangsamoro Peace Promotion Fellowship in General Santos City on September 25-28,2023. (Comenei Ali/BIO)
GENERAL SANTOS CITY—Community peace advocates are being called upon to collaborate with BARMM Government in its dedicated peacebuilding endeavors.
BARMM Government, through the Ministry of Public Order and Safety (MPOS), sought to expand and multiply young peacebuilders from the grassroots level and remote areas in the region.
During the 3rd peace fellowship training held on Sept. 25-28 at Greenleaf Hotel, Atty. Al-Rashid Balt acknowledged that the MPOS requires the support of various partners and stakeholders to maintain lasting peace and order within the region.
“We need more partners and volunteers to achieve our mandate,” he added while stressing the mandate of the ministry in institutionalizing peacebuilding, reconciliation, and unification.
Balt said the Ministry’s peacebuilding initiative is one way of encouraging or challenging more peacebuilders considering the condition of peace and security in our region.
“We will not succeed if we do not innovate more peacebuilding initiatives,” he added.
Rohanaddin Abdullah, 25, a peace advocate from Special Geographic Area (SGA-BARMM) said, “Siguro namana ko ang pagiging-peace advocate sa father ko, kaya gusto ko naman makatulong sa mga kabataang Bangsamoro para sa development ng ating mamayan.”
[I probably inherited my father’s role as a peace advocate, which is why I also want to help the young Bangsamoro for the development of our community.]
Madzna Asnawi 4th year nursing student from Basilan said, “gusto po ma-emulate ang peacebuilding activity sa community namin upang sa ganun matuldukan na ang rido conflicts sa amin although hindi naman gaano kadami.”
[I want to emulate the peacebuilding activity in our community so that we can put an end to the rido conflicts in our area, even though they are not that frequent.]
Bangsamoro Peace Promotion Fellowship is one of the Ministry’s efforts to contribute to sustaining the region’s journey to peace. It aims to produce a network of peace advocates in the remote, vulnerable, and conflict-affected communities in the region. (Majid Nur/BIO)
