Sojourn in the Philippines: Jennifer Kleskie

In the spring of 2009, I had the fortunate opportunity to travel within a southern island of the Philippines, known as Mindanao.  This journey was made possible by my friend, Captain Jo-ar Herrera, who served in the region for a seven year period of time.  Although a trained military leader, he spent much of his time negotiating with rebel factions, de-escalating hostage and other escalated conflict situations, and developing and advocating for humanitarian assistance.  He endeavors to find a better way to address the long term suffering that is resultant of the forty-year conflict that recycles in Mindanao. 

We traveled throughout four provinces in southern Mindanao, including Saragani, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Maguindanao. At the time of this writing (December 2009), both the Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao, as well as Cotabato City, are currently in a state of emergency due to an internationally exposed political massacre that escalated out of one man's attempt to run for governor.

As a graduate of the Masters in Conflict Facilitation from the Process Work Institute of Portland, I had traveled with Captain Herrera to this region to meet and learn more about the experiences of the people living there.  I also wanted to invest my belief in the practice of Deep Democracy and my long-term study of Process Work.   I am so touched by the people that I met there and friends who took time out of their schedules to introduce and make possible the interviews held with a local mayor, vice-governor, members of the indigenous B'laan tribe, and Tiyoy, one of the very special B'laan tribal elders. I also met with family members of mainstreamed or "reformed" Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels. This group split off from the Moro National Liberation Front initially in 1977, to maintain their struggle for self-determination. Currently, this battle between the MILF and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) continues. However, in 2008 alone, over 600,000 people (mostly indigenous) in these regions were internally displaced because of this extreme and ongoing turmoil. 

For more information about this conflict and accounts of the region, please see the following links: 

http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/philippines-mindanao/promised-land.php

http://www.worldpulse.com/magazine/articles/my-cry-from-the-islands-of-blood?page=0,1

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/columns/columns/view/20091130-239322/Try-again-fail-better