Dear Friends,

A simple pre-sunrise breakfast "Kape, Kesong Puti, at Bonete" was organized for the Bangon Mangyans who annually come down to the mainland Luzon from Mindoro during the Christmas season. Homeless and relying only on the covered court for shelter, groups of families, with infants and newborn in tow, rely only on the generosity of lowlanders. This has been going on for decades now and it was the first time that such an occasion was given notice in Bauan, Batangas through this simple free breakfast activity. Exposed to the elements and vulnerable to harassment by intolerant individuals, they choose to leave their mountain villages, for months at end. They take advantage of the propensity of people to sharing during the season for their subsistence, in the hope of bringing home enough cash to buy necessities and livestock, which otherwise would not be within their reach. They justify their annual trek for years now because their produce have often been subjected to unfair trade practices by lowlanders who camp themselves in strategic river crossings enticing and even threatening them to sell their produce very cheap, resulting in meager earnings that are inadequate to sustain them till the next season's harvest.

While previous atttempts have been done, another initiative to break the cycle of unfair trade practice will be undertaken in early 2008, through a series of non-partisan mediation and peacekeeping/monitoring work. It is with the the hope of getting the Mangyan and lowland traders and leaders to sit down, engage in constructive interaction, and find mutually acceptable arrangements leading to a sustainable peace and trade pact at some future time. The breakfast gathering proved to be a opportunity to meet this Bangon Mangyan community who live in a remote village that takes four (4) hours to reach on foot, and after crossing the unpredictable Bongabon river from the trading post. It provided the volunteers for the mediation and peacekeeping/ monitoring work a chance to introduce themselves and get acquainted with their future partners, without having to climb mountains, literally. As the New Year unfolds, may we continue to shed light that leads to solutions, not just endlessly cursing the darkness, and provide hope for upholding a common humanity in each person, friend or foe.

Chito Generoso

P.S. We welcome assistance to finance the travel and sustenance of volunteers to the series of interfaith and intercultural delegation teams helping to find solutions to this long drawn out reality that is prejudicial to the Bangon and Buhid Mangyans. Volunteers from Cotabato and Ifugao are joining the delegations if there are kind individuals and groups willing to pay for their travel. (Please call the Interfaith Center for a Culture of Nonviolence (ICCN) (632) 8907619. ICCN is the secretariat of the PAKAT non-partisan peacekeeping and mediation teams that will visit the San Mariano and Hagad areas in 2008.)

For further information, please visit the website of the Interfaith Center for a Culture of Nonviolence (ICCN), an NGO advocating for third-party nonviolent intervention, unarmed civilian peacekeeping and mediation work in the country. A copy of the PAKAT brochure has been posted to: http://mediationpeacekeeping.blogspot.com/