It has been almost two years since the Marawi siege when Philippine government forces first began their military assault on the city to root out the Dawlah Islamiya, popularly known as the Maute Group, who believed that promoting their vision of Islam required the use of violence. It took almost five months for the government to defeat the Maute Group and their allies. During the war, many civilia...

An MPI alumni round table conversation Written by: Patrick van Wersch They had optimistically agreed the night before to attend Sunday morning mass. But one of them—ironically the pastor—overslept. So instead, after a late breakfast they gathered around a table to read and reflect on their favorite Bible passages. A few hours later, after being joined by a fourth peacebuilder, they found themselves in a similar setting as they sat down with Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute’s (MPI) Marlies Roth and Patrick van Wersch for a round table conversa...

During MPI's 2019 Annual Peacebuilding Training, one of the founders and former Board Member of MPI, Guiamel Alim gave a presentation to the participants on Mindanao. He focused on the newly formed Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), highlighting the opportunities and challenges. Guiamel is presently chairperson of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS) and Director of the Kadtuntaya Foundation, Incorporated (KFI) in Cotabato City. Below you may view the slideshow that was presented during the session. While the slides do not include the full explanation, ...