MANILA, (PIA) -- Two new women spokespersons of Yes for Peace - Bayanihan ng Bayan (YFP-BNB) took their oath before National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) and YFP-BNB Secretary General Yusoph J. Mando to give a fresh and youthful face to the campaign to establish a national consensus to end the armed conflicts between Filipinos against Filipinos in the name of the Filipino people.

Ms. Jamilah Benito Dipantar, a licensed professional teacher and Dr. Anisah Pasandalan H. Ali, a medical doctor, volunteered and expressed their willingness to encourage the youth, as well as general population, to extend their hands in a peaceful movement of Filipinos, by Filipinos and for Filipinos – towards a just, unifying and lasting peace.

The two were appointed by Ernesto Angeles Alcanzare, President of the Yes for Peace, Incorporated, to spread the resultant vision of the Yes for Peace BIG campaign:

Build Consensus. Solicit the responses of Filipinos, ten years and older, to the YES FOR PEACE questionnaire / KaBayanihan Commitment form through Schools (Self-Learning Modules) and through Barangays;

Inclusive and Participatory. The campaign will call upon and capitalize on the spirit of Bayanihan or the pro-active involvement and collective participation of all peace-loving Filipinos; and

Govergence. Good governance through the convergent, integrated and holistic delivery of existing community-driven government programs, a concept being pushed by the CESB (Career Executive Service Board), the well-spring / training ground of the officers and members of the NUCESO (National Union of Career Executive Service Officers).

Dipantar, who was recently awarded as an Excellent Asian Female Educator Award 2021 by the Asian International Excellence Awards, declared that she believes in the mission of YFP-BNB toward the attainment of a just, unifying, sustainable and lasting peace, and can be attained through PEACE:

1) “Participatory open referendum to verifiably document a national consensus against armed struggle and terrorism through using a questionnaire to be distributed and retrieved from Filipinos, 10 years and older.

2) “End internal armed conflicts to enable the government to shift and allocate billions of pesos wasted in the internal armed conflicts to education, health, housing, eradication of poverty, empowerment of women, countryside development and other public services. In short, already scarce resources can be optimized to address the root causes of insurgency.

3) “Assert the Filipino people’s Right to Peace by encouraging the people in documenting public support for an inclusive and participative process pursuant to Executive Order No. 70 Executive Order No. 70, S. 2018, “Institutionalizing the Whole of Nation Approach in Attaining Inclusive and Sustainable Peace, Creating a Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict, and Directing the Adoption of a National Peace Framework” on December 4, 2018.

4) Community-based identification, planning, budgeting and implementation of peace and development programs and projects by Local Government Units and Barangays and communities using hyperlinks of existing peace and development programs and projects; and

5) Empowerment of the Filipino people through Govergence and Good Governance by instilling the indispensability of pro-active involvement and collective participation towards the convergent, integrated and holistic delivery of community-driven government programs through bottom-up planning and budgeting into the national consciousness of the Filipino people.

For her part, Dr. Ali, who was recently declared as the Most Outstanding Bangsamoro Educator and Inspiring Leader of the year by the Asian International Excellence Awards intimated that the objectives of YFP-BNB are encapsulated in the acronym ACE:

1) Active involvement of at least 50 Million Filipinos, 10 years and older, by EO Dec 2021;

2) Cooperation of at least 70% of LGUs and Barangays by EO Dec 2021; and

3) End of all armed conflicts by EO Dec 2021.

“We believe that with through Bayanihan or the pro-active involvement and collective participation of Filipinos, 10 years and older, the Filipino people can attain our shared national goal of Peace, Progress and Prosperity,” she said.

“After all, we all share a common dream of a just, unifying, sustainable and lasting peace for the generations to come,” she added.

For his part, Mando said that aside from advancing, preserving and promoting the interest and welfare of the Muslim Filipinos, "we are also active in supporting PRRD's peace efforts and programs and we are active in peace building activities."

“Yes For Peace - Bayanihan ng Bayan is a consensus building and people's participation advocacy campaign that has thus far documented the stand of over 15 million Filipinos across the Philippines since it was initiated in 1988 by students of the University of the Philippines System,” Alcanzare said.

The adoption and refinement of Yes for Peace to democratically reinforce the Whole of Nation approach towards good governance has been incorporated into the National Action Plan of the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict submitted by National Security Adviser Hermogenes C. Esperon and approved by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. (PIA-NCR)