JasminIIPE Journal revised Dec 17


	
  

In	
  Factis	
  Pax	
  3(1)	
  (2009):	
  136-­‐139	
  

http://www.infactispax.org/journal/	
  

	
  

136	
  

	
  

 

Volume 3 Number 1 (2009): 136-139 
http://www.infactispax.org/journal/ 

 
 

DOING WHAT WE TEACH 
 

Jasmin Nario-Galace 
Center for Peace Education 

Philippines 
 

 

“As an academic, I have no business thinking of solutions to problems.   That is 
not our concern.” 

“The problem with you is you are in the academe, therefore, in an ivory tower. It 
is naive of you to call on us to say kinder words to each other and propose that we 
think of solutions instead.” 

 The first quotation was from a professor-guest in a conference on an arms trade treaty 
attended by government officials and members of civil society organizations from Asia-Pacific, 
and the second was from a co-alumnus in a peace institute who was obviously irate when I 
suggested to the e-group to take the discussion on the Israeli-Palestine conflict to a higher level 
after a barrelful exchange of ugly words. 

 The comments made above left me in disbelief.  Sadly, this is how academe is perceived 
by many. It is an institution where theories are the name of the game, alienated from what is 
happening on the ground.  



	
  

In	
  Factis	
  Pax	
  3(1)	
  (2009):	
  136-­‐139	
  

http://www.infactispax.org/journal/	
  

	
  

137	
  

 But we are peace educators. We are different. Toh Swee -Hin and Virginia Cawagas 
posited that peace education “requires both understanding and practice, both reflection and 
action. It is insufficient to merely understand why conflicts and violence abound in the world; 
one must also act to create more peace”1. Hence, peace educators are concerned not only with 
theories, but also on building awareness on the roots and effects of violence and on cultivating 
values and attitudes compatible to the building of a culture of peace. We are not in an ivory 
tower. With our students, we envision alternatives to existing structures that harm people and 
take action to get to our vision of a better world.  

 As peace educators, we try our best to do what we teach.  At the Center for Peace 
Education in Miriam College, Philippines, where I am based, we call attention to the fact that 
many “women have suffered indignities and inequalities on the basis of their sex...and have been 
hampered from the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms”2.  To concretely 
do something about this situation, we are helping draft a national action plan to implement UN 
Security Council Resolution 1325 which aims to increase women’s participation in conflict 
prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding processes; and UN Security Council resolution 
1820 which aims to protect women from sexual violence in situations of armed conflict. I go 
around the country, far-flung areas, included, to remind women and men of women’s  rights and 
to seek their views on how these resolutions can be implemented.  

 We do not simply tell our students that “people who are not taking part in armed 
hostilities should be protected”3. We are part of Sulong CARHRIHL, a third party network that 
monitors the agreement between our government and the members of the National Democratic 
Front to respect human rights and the international humanitarian law. We go around the country, 
yes including armed conflict zones, to inform non-combatants of their rights in situations of war. 
We lobby for legislation to be filed and approved in the parliament on the issues of landmines 
and small arms that civilians may be protected from the proliferation of these weapons.  

 We do more than telling our students that “the earth’s resources should be justly shared. “ 
We hold an annual fundraising campaign dubbed “Rice porridge for a Cause” that helps bring 
economically-disadvantaged students to schools. We help in the construction of facilities and 
purchase of equipment for a partner-school in Mindanao. When wars break out in southern 
Philippines, we mobilize our students to solicit goods for people trapped in evacuation centers. 

	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  
1	
  Toh	
  Swee-­‐hin	
  and	
  V.	
  Cawagas,	
  Peace	
  education:	
  a	
  framework	
  for	
  the	
  Philippines,	
  Quezon	
  City,	
  1987,	
  p.	
  2.	
  

2L.	
  Castro	
  and	
  J.	
  Galace,	
  Peace	
  education:	
  a	
  pathway	
  to	
  a	
  culture	
  of	
  peace,	
  Quezon	
  City,	
  2008,	
  p.	
  53.	
  

3	
  International	
  Committee	
  of	
  the	
  Red	
  Cross,	
  Summary	
  of	
  the	
  Geneva	
  	
  conventions	
  of	
  August	
  12,	
  1949	
  and	
  their	
  
additional	
  protocols.	
  	
  
	
  



	
  

In	
  Factis	
  Pax	
  3(1)	
  (2009):	
  136-­‐139	
  

http://www.infactispax.org/journal/	
  

	
  

138	
  

Social action and service learning, as Betty Reardon wrote, are very effective approaches that 
can help develop social responsibility and the capacity of global engagement and agency.4 

 e tell our students that “all humans are brothers and sisters, regardless of race, ethnicity, 
religion, gender, sex and socio-economic status”. Beyond words, we organized a Twinning 
Project with a school attended by Muslims in war-torn Mindanao, which theme is “building 
bridges of understanding and peace.” The 40-year old war in Mindanao has created deep 
animosities between Christians and Muslims. Our Twinning project aims to challenge 
stereotypes and prejudices between these groups. Gordon Allport explained in his contact theory 
that opportunities to interact with the different other may help reduce prejudice. 5 Miriam 
College is attended mostly by members of the Catholic faithful and is located in Metro Manila. 
The Twinning Project gives opportunities to both groups of students to communicate via snail 
mail and meet each other in person, thanks to  support from groups like the Australian Embassy 
in Manila. Students from both camps have expressed gratefulness for the project, bearing witness 
to the efficacy of communication and contact in dismantling biases. The project has a publication 
called “Pag-asa” or “hope”. In this newsletter, one student wrote: “Although the two schools are 
far apart and they are believers of different religions, friendships…have blossomed. Whatever 
antagonism between us disappeared. It was replaced by understanding and unity”6.   

 An anti-discrimination bill is currently filed in the Philippine Parliament. We have sent 
letters to our Senators to express support for the bill that seeks to protect Muslims and 
indigenous peoples from discrimination in employment and education. 

 We remind our students that war is not inevitable. We echo what the Seville Statement of 
1986 proposed that “the species that are capable of waging war are also capable of waging 
peace”7. But beyond teaching that, we organize our students to join mass demonstrations and 
prayer rallies to call for the cessation of hostilities and  respect for ceasefire agreements , 
whether in the Philippines or in other parts of the world. We teach our students that weapons, 
being instruments of war and crime, must be controlled. Hence, we frequent the Firearms and 
Explosives Division of our Philippine National Police to dialogue, research and lobby on the 
issue of arms control. Many of our students know by heart that “a thousand people die every day 

	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  
4	
  B.	
  Reardon,	
  Educating	
  for	
  a	
  culture	
  of	
  peace	
  in	
  a	
  gender	
  perspective,	
  Paris,	
  2001,	
  p.	
  172.	
  

5	
  	
  G.	
  Allport,	
  1958,	
  cited	
  in	
  L.	
  Castro	
  and	
  J.	
  Galace,	
  Peace	
  education:	
  a	
  pathway	
  to	
  a	
  culture	
  of	
  peace,	
  Quezon	
  City,	
  

2008,	
  p.	
  73.	
  

6	
  L.	
  Castro,	
  Building	
  bridges	
  of	
  understanding	
  and	
  peace:	
  a	
  twinning	
  project	
  between	
  Muslim	
  and	
  Chrsitian	
  youth,	
  
Quezon	
  City,	
  2009,	
  p.	
  9.	
  

7	
  Adams,	
  D.	
  (ed),	
  The	
  1986	
  Seville	
  statement	
  on	
  violence.	
  Paris,	
  1991.	
  
	
  



	
  

In	
  Factis	
  Pax	
  3(1)	
  (2009):	
  136-­‐139	
  

http://www.infactispax.org/journal/	
  

	
  

139	
  

by gunshots”8 Hence, they have gone to the parliament to seek our parliamentarians’ support for 
an Arms Trade Treaty. We visit offices of parliamentarians to request support for legislation 
controlling the proliferation of arms. We have organized a demonstration in front of the 
Commission on Elections to call on the agency to implement a total gun control during election 
period which is often marred by gun violence. We join our Philippine National Police in 
activities of gun destruction. We go to television and radio stations, as well as schools and other 
venues, to speak about the ill causes of gun proliferation.  

 We tell our students that conflicts can be managed and resolved non-violently. But 
beyond words, we train them to become peer mediators. Our high school classes have elected 
peacekeepers whose main function is to help keep the peace and create more peaceable 
classrooms. Student leaders in our college go through peer mediation sessions. Every year, our 
first year college students are trained on how to resolve conflicts constructively.  We assessed the 
impact of our conflict resolution program among our first year college students a few years ago 
and 81.1% reported that their attitudes on conflict resolution were positively changed and/or 
maintained. 87.5% of our students who went through mediation training reported a positive 
change in attitudes. 66.1% of those trained had the opportunity to practice their mediation skills 
and 94.6% of those who practiced it succeeded in their mediation efforts9. 

 We tell our students that education can be a pathway to peace, that raising consciousness 
about the causes and effects of violence can help cultivate values of concern and compassion and 
prod people to action. To make sure that peace education is brought to as many people as 
possible in my country, our Center brought together kindred spirits from different educational 
institutions and civil society organizations and established the Peace Education Network. 
Members of this network helped draft a policy mainstreaming peace education in the curriculum. 
The result of the drafting and lobbying was an executive order signed by the President of the 
Philippines institutionalizing peace education in basic education and teacher education. And 
believing that peace education is an effective pathway to peace, we have brought it to other 
sectors beyond the academe: the religious, police, military, government workers, parents, out-of-
school youth and members of street gangs, among others.  

 The teacher of peace, according to Betty Reardon, needs to be a responsible global 
citizen, an intentional agent of a culture of peace, a person of vision, capable of hope, and the 
imaging of positive change. 10  As peace educators, we at the CPE, dream of a world that is free 
from war; where justice and equality prevail; where rights of every human being are promoted; 

	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  
8	
  International	
  Action	
  Network	
  on	
  Small	
  Arms,	
  Gun	
  violence:	
  the	
  global	
  crisis,	
  London,	
  2007.	
  

9	
  Castro,	
  L.,	
  Galace,	
  J	
  and	
  Lesaca,	
  K.,	
  Peace	
  education	
  initiatives	
  in	
  Metro	
  Manila,	
  Quezon	
  City,	
  2005,	
  pp.	
  56-­‐59.	
  	
  
	
  

10	
  B.	
  Reardon,	
  Educating	
  for	
  a	
  culture	
  of	
  peace	
  in	
  a	
  gender	
  perspective,	
  Paris,	
  2001,	
  p.139.	
  



	
  

In	
  Factis	
  Pax	
  3(1)	
  (2009):	
  136-­‐139	
  

http://www.infactispax.org/journal/	
  

	
  

140	
  

where diversity is respected; where development trickles down to the last, the least and the lost; 
and where environmental resources are nurtured and sustained. 

  But we do not stop at dreaming. As Betty Reardon wrote, the teacher of peace is a 
practitioner of peace11.  Hence, we do our share in making this vision come true.  

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  
11	
  B.	
  Reardon,	
  Educating	
  for	
  a	
  culture	
  of	
  peace	
  in	
  a	
  gender	
  perspective,	
  Paris,	
  2001,	
  p.	
  140.