‘Peace education effective vs extremism, insurgency’

MANILA, Philippines — The gradual integration of peace education in the general curriculum of schools and universities is an effective measure to prevent and counter violent extremism and communist insurgency in the country, presidential adviser on the peace process Carlito Galvez Jr. said yesterday.

“Peace education should be comprehensive and multi-pronged. First, we have to educate the vulnerable, the orphans, those in the ‘last mile areas’ and the youth,” Galvez said.

He explained that the national government’s continued engagement with educational institutions is in line with its efforts to mainstream and institutionalize peace education.

“We are partnering with different universities so that peace-building will be part of the major curriculum in all subjects that we have,” he added.

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), in partnership with the Department of Education and Commission on Higher Education, is taking the lead in developing educational materials and other literature to promote peace education in the country under Executive Order 570.

Galvez noted that peace education would counter the efforts of local terror groups to spread the ideology of violent extremism in the long-term.

“Peace education will really play an important role in our administration’s program to remove the concept of the ISIS caliphate in the minds of our brothers and sisters,” he said during a peace dialogue last Wednesday with San Beda University-Manila students in reference to a Mindanao-based terrorist organization which pledged allegiance to Islamic State in the Middle East and was responsible for carrying out the Marawi siege.

Galvez, who was then the Armed Forces of the Philippines chief-of-staff, shared his experiences during the height of the Marawi siege and the city’s eventual liberation from the terror group.

Part of Galvez’s presentation was a nine-minute video which documented the battle of Marawi.

During the open forum, he pointed out that the declaration of martial law in Mindanao has served as a major deterrent to terror groups that wanted to expand and wreak havoc on the populace.  

Galvez said it has also given residents, particularly in conflict areas, a greater sense of security with law and order strictly enforced in most affected communities. 

Peace education, he added, will help sustain the gains of the peace processes in the country and provide the youth and future leaders the necessary tools to address situations of conflict and social divides through non-violent approaches. He pointed out that this is the same concept the OPAPP uses to prevent indigenous peoples (IPs) and the youth from being victimized by communist insurgents.

He cited the case of Salugpungan schools in Mindanao that were permanently shut down by the government because these were used by the communists as venue to indoctrinate the IPs.

“We organize the IPs and teach them how to defend themselves so they can police their own communities. In order to defend the IPs, we have to educate them. We are now (tapping the assistance) of schools,” Galvez said.

Midway through his term, the Duterte administration has achieved milestones in the Bangsamoro peace process with the passage of the Bangsamoro Organic Law and the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.