Forum: Mamasapano and the Peace Process

A forum on the Mamasapano tragedy will be held on 27 February 2015 at Club Filipino,
Club Filipino Ave, Greenhills, from 10.30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The forum is conceptualized,
organized, and will be held to promote respectful, deeply informed, visionary but also
pragmatic discussion.
The forum will look at the tragedy through the particular lens of peace-building. It has been
discussed incessantly through the last few weeks through the perspectives of grief, anger,
belligerence, and indeed war-mongering. Spaces need to be opened for the many
alternative discussions that are actually transpiring in various parts of the Philippines, but
are drowned out by the intensity of fighting words.
With this, it is our pleasure to invite you to participate in this forum. Since the venue has
limited seating capacity, kindly confirm your participation through domes@forumzfd.de or
alqalam@addu.edu.ph by Wednesday, 25 February.
Program
10.30 a.m. Registration
10.45 a.m. Introduction and Rationale
11 a.m. Discussion One: Mapping and Contextualizing Mamasapano
(Panel: Marian Pastor Roces and Teng Mangansakan)
12 noon Lunch Break
12.30 p.m. Discussion Two. Mamasapano and Notions of Justice, the Past, and the Future
(Panel: Ruben Carranza, Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman, and n.n.)
1.30 p.m. Discussion Three. The Language of a Continuing Peace Process
(Panel: Benedicto Bacani, Fr. Albert Alejo, and Miriam Colonel Ferrer (tbc.))
2.30 p.m. Synthesis and Closing
Each discussion will include a facilitated roundtable discussion among all participants.
Kindly refer to the next page for more detailed information on the forum.

With kind regards,

Marian Pastor Roces
Kaya Natin! Movement

Manuel Domes
forumZFD

Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan

Al Qalam Institute
Ateneo de Davao University

Jowel Canuday
Sociology and Anthropology
Ateneo de Manila University

Department

In cooperation with forumZFD, Ateneo de Manila -- Sociology and Anthropology Department,

Ateneo de Davao -- Al Qalam Institute, Kaya Natin! Movement for Good Governance

Forum: Mamasapano and the Peace Process

THE EVENT
A forum on the Mamasapano tragedy will be held on 27 February 2015 at Club Filipino, from 10.30 a.m.
to 3 p.m. The forum is conceptualized, organized, and will be held to promote respectful, deeply
informed, visionary but also pragmatic discussion.
The forum will look at the tragedy through the particular lens of peace-building. It has been discussed
incessantly through the last few weeks through the perspectives of grief, anger, belligerence, and
indeed war-mongering. Spaces need to be opened for the many alternative discussions that are actually
transpiring in various parts of the Philippines, but are drowned out by the intensity of fighting words.
Mamasapano and the Peace Process hence has an obvious slant. It deliberately concentrates attention
on the possibility of prosecuting peace on the basis of peace-building work that has transpired over
decades. Still, the forum is also built on a comprehension of the on-going rage. It proposes to respond to
this rage by gathering voices of reason, deep experience in conflict resolution, informed policy-making,
and refined advocacy work.

FORMAT
The forum consists of three panels of brief (10 minute) remarks by discussion leaders, preceding
conversations involving all participants. All participants are invited for the value of their contributions to
enriching the following topics, in sequence:
Discussion One. Mapping and Contextualizing Mamasapano
Discussion Two. Mamasapano and Notions of Justice, the Past, and the Future
Discussion Three. The Language of a Continuing Peace Process

DESIRED OUTCOME
The forum intends to build a support group for individuals who desire a cogent discourse on the
current crisis, beyond demagoguery and political opportunism. This outcome can only be assured by
building, as well, a deeper awareness of the context in which the crisis erupted. Participants and
discussion leaders will collectively consider the relative values of various languages of discussion, and
the ways to widen the circles of face-to-face and media-circulated conversations. Post-Mamasapano,
building peace will be, expectedly, needing a refreshed, wider, and deeper framework of discussions
around the peace process. It is this anticipated need that the forum seeks to addresswith the
understanding that the need is, in fact, now.

In cooperation with forumZFD, Ateneo de Manila -- Sociology and Anthropology Department,

Ateneo de Davao -- Al Qalam Institute, Kaya Natin! Movement for Good Governance