Abdul-Azim D.

Ontok
Nominee, 13th and 14th Congressional Internship Program for Young Mindanao Leaders
Journal #4
June 8, 2012

I am quietly adjusting now to the life in MSU Marawi. In fact, I and my roommates
arrived the earliest in MSRC. Our daily training started with a second quiz about the
lectures yesterday. Unlike the first quiz, todays quiz does not only require answers in
essay form, but it also has answers needed to be enumerated. I did not expect it so Im
hopeful to have a passing rating. We were also required to submit our signed contracts
after the quiz.
Dr. Hj. Mohammad Guimba Poingan was the resource person for the morning
session. He was assigned to lecture about the Ethics, Responsibility, Accountability
and Corruption in Public Service. He opened his lecture with a statement that man is
an ethical being, that man is good and is bad by nature or that man is good or bad
depending on how he interacts in the world. The discussion revolved on the controversy
that mans ethical behavior could be traced back to Adam and Eve, the biblical
ancestors of the entire humanity. He further focused the discussion on the imperatives
of ethics. According to the main imperative of ethics, humans do good and behave well
because of their belief that a Supreme Being exists and that He knows every act they
commit wherever they are. I like the way that he presented his lecture and statements
because he equally supported them with his knowledge in Holy Books of Quran and
Bible. There was never been a bias on his justifications.
During the afternoon session, Dr. Moctar Matuan, the Executive Director of the
Institute of Peace and Development in Mindanao (IPDM) of MSU Marawi, was the

speaker. The subject of our afternoons class was the Understanding and Strategies in
Addressing Conflict. He started the session with an activity by grouping the nominees
in pair. Each pair acted as a leader and a follower to each other. I felt stupid from
following what my other pair demands me to do. It was done for us to realize the
development of conflicts between two persons or groups of people. The activity was
effective and I even appreciated more the difficulties surrounding the conflicts in our
country.
Emphasis was given by Dr. Matuan to the fact that conflicts exist because the
members of a society continuously interact to each other. Conflict arises because of
every mans natural and acquired differences. He added that there can never be a
society where conflict does not exist. Moreover, he said that conflicts may either result
into a good or bad condition. Conflicts may either bring improvement and development
to a society or endanger it. He suggested that the best way to respond to a conflict is
through a Win-Win approach wherein both parties win their ideas and aspirations. Dr.
Matuan was effective in delivering his topic and he further made his lecture more
understandable by supplementing interactive activities.
I learned much about the two lectures today. In the morning, I was spiritually
enriched and in the afternoon, I was socially enhanced. Both of the speakers were
effective and very well competent of their designated topics. I wish that the morning
session could have been extended and made into a one day lecture because the topic
is morally and spiritually enhancing.