Philippines
Act for Peace in the Philippines
The National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) is an ecumenical fellowship of churches, united by common action in solidarity with the people in the struggle for justice, peace and the integrity of creation.
Act for Peace supports NCCP’s “Not without my Sisters and Brothers” Interfaith and Indigenous Peoples’ Ministry program (2007-2010) operating through Initiatives for Peace in Mindanao, Central Luzon, Visayas and the Southern Tagalog Regions.
The key objectives of the program are to promote mutual understanding between Muslims and Christians framed around the goals of peace and justice, to encourage grassroots actions towards tolerance and co-existence and to support impacted populations through social welfare and development initiatives.
This is achieved through a number of key activities including:
- Financial, material, medical and technical assistance to displaced and indigenous populations and victims of human rights violations
- Providing sanctuary to vulnerable populations
- Fact finding missions into human rights abuses and perpetrators of crimes against civilians
- Production and circulation of written and visual materials that promote mutual understanding and peace
- Regional and national consultations between Christian and Muslim groups
- Lobbying of public authorities and networking with influential bodies and support networks on relevant peace issues
In preparation for the presidential elections in the Philippines in May 2010, NCCP, with the support of Act for Peace, carried out a number of initiatives. These included the publication of an elections guide to broaden the public’s understanding of voter rights and responsibilities, electoral education trainings for polling day monitors and monitoring of polling stations and the new automated electoral system.
Act for Peace has also supported NCCP through emergency response work, most recently during Typhoon Ketsana in late 2009. NCCP, through its Regional Ecumenical Committees and supporter base was able to reach more than 3,000 families with food packs and more than 1,700 families with non-food items kits, NCCP is an emergency implementing partner for ACT Alliance in the Philippines.
NCCP advocates strongly against large-scale mining and human rights violations, war and counter insurgency strategies, particularly extra-judicial killings. In addition, NCCP also focuses its advocacy work on preventing violence against women and children; HIV and AIDS awareness raising and children’s rights.
The NCCP has been heavily involved in encouraging the Philippines government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines to resume formal peace talks. These negotiations were held from 15 to 21 February 2011, facilitated by the Norwegian government. Click
here to read the Oslo Joint Statement issued on 21 February, and
here to read a statement from the NCCP expressing joy at the successful peace talks.
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can provide 20 hygiene kits for the suffering Lumad people of the Philippines.
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can provide a literacy course for an indigenous person in the Philippines so that they can retain their political, economic and land rights. |
