Inquirer Southern Luzon
1.8 billion minutes of peace

By Madonna Virola, Rina Angela Corpus
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:50:00 12/17/2008

Filed Under: Women, Regional authorities

TAGAYTAY CITY – When two women's groups started a campaign for one million minutes of pledges for peace – in prayer, meditation or positive thought – in September, they were surprised that they had vastly surpassed their target by getting nearly two billion.

“It means that there is a huge mass of people not only yearning for peace but also willing to do their part in achieving it,” said Irene Santiago, chair of the Mindanao Commission on Women (MCW).

The MCW and the Mothers for Peace launched the “Million Thoughts and Actions for Peace” campaign nationwide on Sept. 1, appealing to people to create positive and peaceful thoughts, which were counted through hard-copy participation forms sent to local organizers, online forms to www.milliontapsforpeace.org , and text messages to Globe.

Culture of Peace

The project was part of the celebration of the United Nations Decade of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence to Children of the World from 2000 to 2010.

On Dec. 3, the organizers were overwhelmed by the result: 1.8 billion pledged minutes.

Chula Bucoy, one of the MCW's young leaders and member of the Youth for Peace, introduced the campaign to her school, the Ateneo de Zamboanga. Other major participants came from Davao City's Pamulaan Center in Mintal and the city council.

As their contribution to the Thoughts and Acts for Peace (TAP), the participants enter a number of minutes in their thoughts of peace, pledge to do acts of peace, and write how many times they will do these.

Listen more, talk less

There are 29 acts of peace options listed in the participation form, but adherents can also add their own acts of peace.

Arlene Lozano, program director of the MCW, said the campaign might be extended to March, in time for the celebration of the International Women's Day, “because many would still like to join.”

In Notre Dame University in Cotabato City, Lozano said most students chose the “listen more and talk less” act as a peace option.

She could not yet tell how many had joined the campaign and other details because the tallies had yet to be completed.

Yasmin Busran-Lao, 47, an advocate of women's rights from Marawi City in Lanao del Sur, pledged a lifetime of prayers. As a Muslim, she said, it was mandatory that she pray five times every day.

“I pray for 15 to 30 minutes more after each prayer (also five times each day) for peace, because there's so much ‘unpeace' in the world,” she said.

In the context of the armed conflict in Mindanao, peace became urgent as talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front stalled, with resumption uncertain, Busran-Lao said.

Cutting across religions

“When I first heard of the TAP in Tagaytay, I became more conscious that every time I pray, I pray with women cutting across religious traditions, not only Muslims,” she said.

In vowing a lifetime of prayer, Busran-Lao explained that the world really needed healing and it would take a lifetime, or even more, for it to happen, “not knowing where we're heading and with so much challenges.”

If she will have another lifetime to live, she will still commit it to TAP, she said. She projects 30 years more of this lifetime.

Brahma Kumaris

The peace campaigners took the opportunity to relate their goal during “The Power That Heals: A Women's Roundtable Conference” on Nov. 12, which was organized by the Brahma Kumaris (BK), a 72-year-old women-led international NGO and United Nations peace messenger, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The campaign is patterned after the BK's “Million Minutes of Peace Appeal,” a project dedicated to the 1986 UN International Year of Peace.

The BK is a recipient of seven peace messenger awards from the UN.

Attended by 45 women leaders from Luzon to Mindanao, it was the first gathering of its kind to discuss human rights in the light of spirituality, and the basic lifestyle tools for women in peace advocacy. Among those who attended were former beauty queen Margie Moran-Floirendo and Bainon Karon, president of the Federation of United Mindanaoan Bangsamoro Women.

At the end of the meeting, the women were enjoined to write their personal commitment plans, which were later set into colorful hand-shaped wallpapers.

Sr. Jayanti Kirplani, the conference keynote speaker and BK emissary to UN conferences on peace, women and development, expressed the need for women leaders to learn “practical spirituality” in their advocacy work.

A meditation teacher and spiritual counselor for the last 40 years, Jayanti highlighted the archetype of the “Wounded Healer,” a title for people who serve others and yet are themselves wounded from within.