PEACE EXEMPLARS. Presidential Peace Adviser Secretary Carlito Galvez (left) leads the awarding of the Gawad Kapayapaan to extraordinary individuals and organizations for their invaluable contributions to the promotion and attainment of a just and lasting peace in the country in a ceremony held at the Manila Hotel on Monday (Sept. 30, 2024). The awardees include Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, founding member of the Southeast Asian Women Peace Mediators Miriam Coronel Ferrer, MILF Peace Negotiating Panel Chair Ghazali Jaafar (2nd to 4th from left, respectively), and the LGU of Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte. (PNA photo by Marita Moaje)
MANILA – The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU) has recognized three individuals and one local government unit (LGU) peace exemplars as recipients of this year’s “Gawad Kapayapaan”, in celebration of the National Peace Consciousness Month.
Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, Prof. Miriam Coronel Ferrer, founding member of the Southeast Asian Women Peace Mediators, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Peace Negotiating Panel Chair Ghazali Jaafar, and the local government unit (LGU) of Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte received the award in a ceremony at The Manila Hotel on Monday.
In his speech, Presidential Peace Adviser, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. stressed that this commemoration should be a time to look back, reflect, and learn from the outstanding peacebuilding efforts that the awardees have carried out in their respective fields.
“We must remember that National Peace Consciousness Month is not only an annual celebration. Most importantly, it is a clarion call to all that the pursuit of peace must be an inclusive, integrated, and collective effort,” Galvez said.
“Just as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said, peace is not a day-long, week-long, or month-long commitment. it is the commitment of a lifetime,” he added.
Galvez also recognized the invaluable role women leaders play in the nation’s peacebuilding process.
“Nakita natin si (We saw) Miriam Coronel has been very vital in the peace process. She even garnered the most coveted Magsaysay award and she’s the first Filipina, the first ever woman na naging (who became) chief negotiator. Around the globe, she’s the only woman who made a significant dent in the negotiation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pangandaman said that as a proud daughter of Mindanao, the mission holds a deep personal significance for her as the vision of peace and development in the Bangasmoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) is something that she holds dear, having seen first-hand how conflict can scar the community.
At the same time, Pangandaman believes that hope and peace can help transform lives.
“I’m so grateful, I’m so happy, I almost cried a while ago, this is not just for me, it is for the future, for the little girls and little boys. I said it in a speech, para sa kanila itong kapayapaan na gusto nating mangyari (this peace that we want to achieve is for them),” she said.
As co-chair of the Intergovernmental Relations Body (IGRB), Pangandaman led the activation of all seven IGRB mechanisms in less than a year and presented its 3rd Progress Report to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. last July 31.
The budget chief was also a key figure in the establishment of the Marawi Compensation Board, which enabled socioeconomic recovery in the region.
Pangandaman, the only Muslim Filipina in the Cabinet, also launched the Public Financial Management Competency Program in the BARMM to empower the
region’s budget and finance officers.
“Our government is committed to peacebuilding through real and concrete actions because, at the end of the day, peace begins with us. It starts with what we are willing to give, what we are willing to sacrifice for the greater good,” she added.
The “Gawad Kapayapaan” is given to extraordinary individuals and organizations for their invaluable contributions to the promotion and attainment of a just and lasting peace in the country, and symbolizes a lifetime commitment to the nation’s peacebuilding effort.
In choosing the awardees, the OPAPRU looked at the credibility and experience of the nominees, and their contribution in the peace process. (with reports from Darryl John Esguerra/PNA)
