Fog started to creep in from a cafe on Heaven street, covering a portion overlooking Mindanao State University (MSU) in Marawi City. In the same area, light showers were being felt at Kampo Ranao, a military headquarters where the 12th Civil-Military Operations Battalion (CMOBn) was based. Both places were eerily quiet and cold, and people went on with their daily afternoon schedules. Everything seemed normal, but who would have thought that five (5) years ago, MSU and Kampo Ranao were filled with Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) as a result of the intense fighting between government troops and Islamic State-inspired militants and would be known internationally as “The Battle of Marawi” or the “The Siege of Marawi”.
This horrifying incident was recalled by our new Peace Hero Carers from Lanao del Sur and when the topic of resiliency and peacebuilding arose, the conversation eventually stirred from the aftermath of the siege to its impact on the community members. Instead of using the term “fighters” to pertain to the militants, the subject became the “returnees” and how to rehabilitate and reintegrate them peacefully into society.
In June 2022 in Tirana, Albania, the key message was addressed by all the panelists at the Global Conference on Violent Extremism, co-organized by the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF): “Rehabilitation and reintegration are critical to international efforts to prevent violent extremism”. In the same thread, the Philippines recognizes the need to provide and support a comprehensive aftercare program that allows for the smooth transition of individuals back into their communities as stipulated in its National Action Plan on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (NAP P/CVE); hence, Teach Peace Build Peace Movement (TPBPM) pilot test its Aftercare Peace Track (APT) under its Peace Heroes Formation Program (PHFP) to complement government efforts and other civil society organizations (CSOs) in other aspects of rehabilitation and reintegration
The PHFP APT started with a listening session in November 2019 to document the narratives of the returnees that serve as baseline data for an individual or group of people to join a certain group and to understand the correlation of their narratives before, during, and after in the development of their human behavior. Three (3) themes emerged from the series of listening sessions and consultations – Rediscovering Oneself, Restoring Relationships, and Reintegrating Peacefully, which the returnees and their families will undergo to help facilitate their peaceful and harmonious reintegration into their communities. About 50 community (adult and young) leaders, social workers, and uniformed personnel from Lanao del Sur were gathered together to be trained as “Peace Hero Carers” in preparation for the APT program implementation. Warmth filled the cafe and Kampo Ranao as the new Peace Hero carers recalled their APT training journey.
Rediscover Oneself
Sai Morohambsar is a Field Program Officer from the Bangsamoro Youth Commission (BYC). From his years of peacebuilding experience, he cited employment and education as pertinent issues among youth, so they train youth organizations on policy-making and program interventions. He has also met various youth-serving groups handling returnees; thus, part of their work in BYC is to accredit these organizations. He described himself as passionate in his advocacy to empower fellow youth to be the voice of their community. He thought he was already doing great but his APT training journey made him realize that there are still areas he can improve on.
“For almost 3 years na pagiging advocate, parang ang dami ko pa palang lapses na dapat kong marealize sa sarili ko (For almost 3 years of being an advocate, I realized that I have a lot of lapses). For example, lagi tayong nagsasalita to empower the youth pero ang dami pa palang dapat matutunan sa sa pag-cocommunicate peacefully (For example, I always talk about empowering the youth but the truth is, I still have to learn more about being able to communicate peacefully).”
The restorative chat session made him rediscover himself and become more sincere and genuine in his speaking engagements with his fellow youth. He became more mindful in his verbal and non-verbal communication and noted that this is also very useful in communicating with returnees.
Restore Relationships
Sergeant Sai Abdur Rahman Pandapatan, is a Muslim, Maranao and a member of the 12 Civil Military Operations Battalion of the Philippine Army. Serving the military for 14 years, he has engaged far-flung communities and witnessed that government interventions were inaccessible. He recognizes that this can lead to frustration and can be a push factor for community members to join extremist groups once the latter capitalizes on these negative emotions. He also witnessed the effects of the Marawi Siege on the families of returnees and victims during his 5-year deployment in the Municipality of Butig. He noticed that there are fellow Maranaos who are afraid and triggered as the Armed Forces of the Philippines were being blamed for the escalation and bombings that happened during the siege and the destruction of their homes and heritage. It is a daunting challenge how to restore the relationship between the local community and the state.
For Sgt. Pandapatan, his mission was straightforward, but his APT training journey made him perceive his mission differently. He realized that he has to do introspection to be more effective in his tasks and duties.
“Pero ang tumatak talaga sa akin, nandoon kami sa community, nilulutas namin ang problema nila. Pero ikaw sa sarili mo, mayroon ka ring problema, na dapat pala unahin ang sarili at pamilya. Kami na nilulutas ang problema ng iba tapos sa sarili namin hindi namin maayos, syempre paano ka magiging effective kung problemado ka, wala kang gana magtrabaho.”
(English translation: My key takeaway from the training is this: We go to communities to solve their problems, but I realize that I, too, have so many personal problems. I realize that I should learn how to resolve my own conflict situations first before I can be effective in offering solutions to other people’s problems. I also realized that it will negatively impact my work performance and my relationship with my colleagues.)
From these realizations, he is keen to perform his duties better by recognizing first his own psychological, social, and emotional needs. He intends to rebuild new and better relationships through his identities as a Muslim, as a Maranao, and as a member of the AFP. Apart from this, he is also determined to be the bridge between the returnees, the locals, and the state. He is hopeful that with the use of the APT toolkit, they will eventually have a more peaceful community.
Reintegrate Peacefully
Anuar Maute took a pause as he introduced himself. “I was waiting for your reaction when I told you my last name.” He knew people would raise their eyebrows when they hear that name and would think how he is associated with the Maute brothers who led the siege of Marawi City. He then proceeded to introduce his affiliated organization, Super Lumba, a youth-led volunteer group in Lanao del Sur. A series of livelihood, education, and peace-related training programs for returnees are being implemented by their organization, in collaboration with the local government units. Aside from being a volunteer member of Super Lumba, Anuar is also a TESD Specialist under the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education. Their program’s free skills assessment, training certification, and referrals to local school boards for Alternative Learning Systems and further studies are components that Anuar described as contributing to lessening the discrimination against the returnees, especially those who did not have the chance to finish basic or higher education.
Similar to Sai, Anuar has been involved in numerous peacebuilding and education programs, but one of his realizations after undergoing the APT training journey is the importance of valuing the thoughts and acknowledging the emotions of the returnees. Anuar’s experience with intervention programs has always been a rigid and top-down approach.
“What I really appreciate is that the modules are returnees-centered. It’s more about themselves and not what we think they should learn.”
With the help of the PHFP APT Toolkit, Anuar also posits that a resilient and peaceful community looks promising.
Sai Morohambsar, Sergeant Sai Abdur Rahman Pandapatan, and Anuar Maute, three stories, three diverse backgrounds, but with one realization in their Aftercare Peace Track journey. Their training journey which starts from rediscovering themselves made them realize their own biases, lapses, and areas for improvement, and to give importance to their thoughts and feelings as these can affect their actions and in building relationships with others. On reintegrating peacefully, they realized that programs and interventions must be centered on compassion and empathy, and this is a critical component of a holistic aftercare program through peace education.
From the stories that were shared, it is very significant to note that for our APT Program to be successful, our carers have to discern the importance of having the right mindset and values to handle returnees. And we hope to continue this journey by sharing this first step with others so we can all journey together towards having an empathetic and compassionate caring community for every returnee and their families.
