Miss Marianne Williamson, The Honorable Congressman Dennis Kucinich, the Right Honorable Dr. Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, Mr. Fred Fakari’i, Mr. Timothy Al Paulus, Hideaki Nakagawa San, Mr. Paul Van Tongeren, Friends, Citizens of the World,

Peace Unto You.

Our people have authorized me to commit even more to the strengthening of the Departments of Peace.

The President of the Republic of the Philippines - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Secretary Jess Dureza of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process are delighted to have learned that the Philippines is one of the first in the establishment of a Department of Peace.

Twenty years ago, as we overthrew the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, we established The National Unification Commission. The establishment of the Department of Peace in our country was not just handed down but was really a hard earned victory.

Of course, to sustain the gains, of bringing into mainstream, those who were alienated by the People Power Revolution, we had to improve, and we called our department the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.

Right now, we are handling six formal peace processes: three are brokered and are held outside of our country, namely, in Norway, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The three others are locally brokered.

We have with us this morning one of the mediators, from the NGO that has gladly lent their expertise and even their willingness to learn more. His name is Kaloy Manlupig of Balay Mindanaw.

While we say, we are managing six (6) peace processes; there are other things which we need to address because what we are addressing are violent conflicts. Sometimes, in the area where we are, there are also clan wars. Thus, we need to do some more things to map out the conflicts.

This is one important thing that we have learned. Unless we map out the conflict of a certain place, of our island - Mindanao or of our country - we will not be able to turn the correct key for resolving them.

Perhaps it’s high time for the United States or the world to start learning to identify the players and the causes for all the conflicts; and turn the key to solving all these conflicts.

Well, our second constitution was copied from the US constitution. Perhaps it’s high time for the US to copy our department of peace.

Indeed we have our gains, but we also have our shortcomings.

While we need to have the impetus to solve the issues of peace, the concerns and issues are really tremendous. We have to address the issue of corruption, of inequity, of injustice and underdevelopment.

And we found out that one very clear proof that there is corruption is when our land, even though it is scarce, is not being used for anything and remain idle.

And so, in the peace process that we are trying to manage, both the rebel panel and government panel have agreed not just to talk peace but also walk peace. What we do is, we go to the communities together: the government panel and the rebel panel. And ask the people to have the inventory of the resources that they have, which they can use to help develop their communities.

Of course, we also need to inventory the problems and prioritize them. We found out, to our great dismay, that the problems were not as great as we thought they were. The sad thing is that the solution is just not there yet. Our people where there are rebels do not have water to drink, roads, schools, electricity, etc.

All these things mean that, if we can all unite as a people, as friends, perhaps we can resolve the issues of peace. The extra hose, that we have at home, could then be brought to the areas where there is no water, so that our people will have a taste of what potable water is.

And so, we are so excited to share our experience, and we are also excited to learn as well from the experience of others - from Solomon Islands and the other countries. And we are happy to learn that there are other countries that may be able to establish a department of peace: perhaps, Costa Rica, Ghana, Nepal or Liberia, or Iraq.

I am happy to tell you that, with the clearance from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and my Secretary, Secretary Jesus Dureza, we are gladly offering to host the First Department of Peace Summit sometime in February 2007, in joint cooperation with the convenors, steering committee and sponsors of this Global Alliance.

God Bless.

* Franklin Quijano, an attorney and former mayor of the city of Iligan in the Philippines, is Chair of the Philippines national government panel for the peace process with the Revolutionary Workers Party of Mindanao.