Man with a mission

He has dodged bullets, survived a hostage drama and got over being labeled a communist. All these Benjamin Abadiano shrugs off as worth the risk if only to keep the proud heritage and ensure the survival of the country’s indigenous peoples.

A man on a mission, Abadiano stands guard over the rights of the descendants of this land’s original inhabitants–now a neglected people seeking to live peacefully in a more humane and just society. For this he has won accolades, the most recent of which is Asia’s highest honor. No politics, just the pure spirit of volunteerism runs in the veins of this 2004 Ramon Magsaysay awardee for emergent leadership who last week was formally conferred the prize.

Commitment and consistency, Abadiano says, are important in finding one’s way into the hearts of the indigenous peoples. So instead of digging into the dirt of politics as a means of pursuing progress for them, he breaks up the earth with structures for education and "sanctuaries for peace".

He made education part of the lives of Mangyans in Mindoro as well as the Lumad of Mindanao. According to the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, there are roughly 12 million indigenous peoples in the Philippines.

In his 15 years of volunteer work, Abadiano, 41, says nothing is more inspiring than to witness the "tri-people" of Lumad, Muslim and Christian settlers leave behind a history of antagonism for the sake of peace.

It was in 2001, he recalls, when peace found its way back into a community in Carmen, North Cotabato after 30 years of discord, largely due to the inspiration he and his group brought upon the people.

"The Christians, Muslims and Lumad settlers were not able to go back to their communities but because of the peace building program, during the Ramadan, the Muslims approached the Christians and wanted to reconcile. They said they wanted to heal the relationship," Abadiano recounts.

Planting bamboo, which he says for the Maguindanaoans used to signify "revenge or anger" towards their enemies, became a "symbol for peace."

"They wanted to change the meaning of that. And now the Muslims and Christians are back in the community, living peacefully and rehabilitating their lives together," he says.

It is inspiring, he notes, that religion is not what hampers progress and peace in the region.

"Most of our partners are Muslims," he says. "Everyday we work together and we then begin to understand that religion is not the problem, but the injustice that had been done to these people."

But it isn’t always a happy ending for their peace building efforts, as Abadiano recalls a two-month hostage ordeal that wasn’t even supposed to be his.

"I was held hostage in November 3, 2003 because of the programs we were implementing and a communication problem arose on policies. They had some demands," he recounts, refusing to give further details. "The one involved was some other person but because of my desire to protect this person, ako mismo yung pumunta," he explains. "This person was not able to clearly explain to the community (the policies) and the Muslims thought they were being cheated."

The crisis, he says, did not reach the media nor was there any need for the military to intervene because the community has its own way of resolving differences. "The conflict was resolved through the leaders."

Military or government intervention "is not our style" in dealing with problems, he clarifies.

Abadiano’s story began in 1989 in Mindoro Oriental. At 25 when men his age strive to find their place in the so-called "real world" of young professionals, a scrawny looking Abadiano found his in a community far from the urban world.

He had a simple dream for Mindoro’s indigenous peoples, the Alangan Mangyans: to foster an education program centered on literacy as well as livelihood and leadership skills, and uphold Mangyan values and traditions.

But the man fresh out of college encountered "resistance" from the Mangyans who were suspicious of his motives. They thought he was just another communist in the area.

"You can’t romanticize the indigenous people. You can’t blame them for their suspicions because there were people who took advantage of them before," says Abadiano. "It was hard to establish trust. A lot of times I was suspected (of being) a communist but once you gain their trust, their treatment becomes different."

Meeting the Mangyans, Abadiano’s resolve to serve the indigenous peoples was strengthened. His first brief experience with the Manobos of Bukidnon while in college drew him to the spartan simplicity of upland life.

The young man wandered into the lives of the Mangyans armed only with a degree in sociology from the Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City. Abadiano volunteered to help the missionary sisters there and stayed on for nine years.

His leadership skills emerged when he founded the Tugdaan Center for Human and Environmental Development. Tugdaan is the Mangyan term for "seedbed". He started out with only 12 students holding classes in a small nipa hut and he was the principal and teacher all in one.

The seed planted by Abadiano and his small team of volunteers has grown into a thriving institution now with nearly 200 students and more than half of its teachers are Mangyan. The center has adequate classrooms and meeting halls, a library, science laboratory, preschool and a Mangyan cultural resource center.

Learning all he could about this "beautiful people" as he calls them, Abadiano compiled the first Tagalog-Mangyan dictionary.

"Learn to dream of simple actions that bring goodness to people," was Abadiano’s call to youth in his lecture during the Magsaysay awards week attended mostly by students and men and women who, in their own words, hope to make a difference by serving others.

"Rather than dreaming of things to gain and self-recognition to receive, we have to let ourselves take part in the dreams of others. I became part of other people’s dreams," he says.

Abadiano envisions empowering ethno-linguistic groups in the country with education, and working on a "grassroots peace building" program for victims of conflict in war-torn areas of Mindanao.

He came to Mindanao in 2001– at the height of the Estrada government’s war against separatist rebels–to assist hundreds of thousands of people, uprooted by war, to return home and reestablish their normal lives.

Abadiano laments the lack of evacuation plans when hostilities erupted.

He helped set up 54 "sanctuaries of peace" across the region and at the same time, he connected with Mindanao’s indigenous groups, or Lumad. He also established the Ilawan Center for Peace and Sustainable Development which provides a culture-based education program similar to that of Tugdaan’s.

Abadiano fights what he calls "institutionalized injustice" which, he says, remains to be the greatest obstacle on the way to progress for indigenous peoples.

Institutionalized injustice, he explains, "is the kind imposed by powerful individuals and business interests in violation of their rights and freedom."

Land grabbing is one form of this injustice, he says, when there is "forcible disenfranchisement of indigenous people from their ancestral lands." And because of the continuing conflict in the south, he cites a huge number of indigenous people are left with no alternative but to abandon their homes for fear of being caught in the crossfire of war.

Abadiano has worked tirelessly to coordinate negotiations between local authorities and religious leaders, the military and armed insurgents, including the innocent people caught in between the conflict.

"We have to be sincere and consistent," he says in explaining how to avoid suspicions from both the military and rebel sides while reestablishing the lives of displaced people.

Recurring brushes with death especially at the height of the war in 2001 when they were helping evacuees return to their places of origin seem to have become a fact of life. "There is always that risk of getting killed anytime but we have to take that risk," he says.

Abadiano says the government should recognize the people’s initiatives and grassroots peace building "because the power lies in there" in finding lasting peace in Mindanao.

Fifteen years since walking into the lives of the Mangyans, Abadiano has become a leader in his own right. Recognition outside the highlands–long overdue–has come with winning the Magsaysay award. Abadiano is one of two Filipino Magsaysay laureates this year, the other being Haydee Yorac, chair of the Presidential Commission on Good Government for government service.

"I am grateful yet awed," the 41-year-old Abadiano says in receiving the award, dedicating such honor to the hundreds of other volunteers who "have worked tirelessly without expecting recognition".

And lastly, he dedicates the award to his grandparents who raised him and stoked the passion in him to serve. They must be smiling down on him for living a life dedicated to helping others.

He says that passion comes from "the feeling of gratitude and of being blessed." And if you are blessed, Abadiano believes "you have to share your best".

Abadiano nearly entered the priesthood when he left Tugdaan in 1997, but his calling was really with the indigenous peoples. Marriage did almost happen, but was set aside with the prospect of settling down to help in the rehabilitation of the lives of war victims in Mindanao.

Does he still have plans to marry? "Maybe, in the near future," he says with a boyish smile.