In Wake of Airport Bomb Blast, Modeling a More Peaceful Mindanao

Baltimore, March 12, 2003 — In the wake of the airport bombing in the Philippines last week, Lutheran World Relief is working to convene a roundtable on peace and the causes of violence in the southern island of Mindanao. The forum would be a larger version of the community round tables that have generated local progress and peace -and guided LWR's work for years - on the strife-torn island.

News of the March 4 bomb blast at Davao airport killing 26 civilians traveled overseas like a footnote to the global coverage of terrorism. But in Mindanao, among community development workers, the attack was a sad and urgent reminder of the region's old but not insoluble problems: Can Mindanao's mostly Christian migrants and mostly Muslim locals live and work in peace? Will impoverished people get land? Can depleted farmland and fishing grounds be restored and protected? In many villages the answer to each question is, "Yes, it's happening but it takes time and much work."

The local roundtables that LWR supports in scores of villages include representatives of government, business, community groups, Christians and Muslims. Consensus and support from those meetings go toward land reforms, agricultural improvements, grassroots organizing, and better management of forests and fisheries.

In a report to headquarters just five days before the bombing, LWR's local coordinator noted the threat posed by a recent spate of guerilla and army reprisals. "Conflicts in Mindanao will not be solved by military action," wrote Gilda Echavez. "If only [people outside Mindanao] will see for themselves how these people are suffering from extreme poverty, they cannot even think of war and military action."

After the bombing, Echavez confirmed that all LWR partner staff were safe, but that certain projects will be at risk if violence escalates. Then, with other NGOs including two other church aid agencies like LWR, she began pursuing the idea of a special forum for 100 island leaders representing government, development, business, academia and religious groups. The goal would be to address the causes and costs of violence and agree on measures for promoting peace. Echavez says the core group developing the initiative hopes to convene the forum next month.

LWR has 14 long-term community development projects on Mindanao. All grapple with issues that trouble the island. One project, in the especially tense southwestern region around Zamboanga, is something of a model for a more peaceful Mindanao. An organization called Muslim-Christian Agency for Rural Development works with 14 fishing villages to secure livelihoods and protect coastal resources. Dynamite, once used for reef fishing in the area, is now taboo. Churches and mosques are part of a process that is breathing new life into the environment and their communities.