Pagpati'ut - Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue

Punay Poblacion. The powerful mayor is feared and appears to have full
control of Barangay Punay and most of Panglima Estino municipality. He
has developed his own style of governance and this comes with its own
rules and penalties. In fact, one can go as far as presupposing that the
power and arms that the Mayor has are his primary cards to be a “peace
holder.”
For Silangkan, while the community has moved towards shared
mechanisms, the entire process towards community accountability and
ownership was initiated and is currently being sustained by a community
elder who is a former MNLF Commander. All members of the community
hold the MNLF Commander in high esteem. He brings with him not just
power-based-on force, as a former combatant, but also power-based
on social capital, as a community elder. He chose to lead the community
towards a more inclusive and peaceful community that Silangkan is today.
The peace in these communities is obviously tenuous given that in each,
there is a ‘peace holder.’ The moral ascendancy of each of the ‘holder’
of their respective community. The source of power, on the surface, is
community elder – but the underlying and perhaps more insidious source
P R E S E N T A T I O N & A N A L Y S I S O F F I N D I N G S
In other words, while the paper regards the three communities as best
exemplifying what ‘mediating violence’ thesis is about, the circumstances
surrounding their ‘peacefulness’ is debatable, and the sustainability of the
relative peace they experience is at best fragile.
2. Mechanisms for communication/dialogue
Another feature of peaceful communities
is the presence of mechanisms for
communication and dialogue. These
mechanisms are both vertical (between
leaders and the constituents) and
horizontal (among community members).
These communication mechanisms lead
to a stronger sense of inclusiveness
in the community, facilitating a more
active participation of members of the
community.
COMMUNITY MEETING OF PEACE CENTERED
COMMUNITY OF SILANGKAN, PARANG, SULU
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