CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, February 9, 2009—As part of its 10 Initiatives for 2009, the Cooperative Development Authority in Northern Mindanao (CDA-10) has embarked on peace-building in Mindanao through the various cooperatives in the region.

CDA-10 Director Orlando Ravanera acknowledges the power of cooperatives in forging unity and peace among the peoples of Mindanao.

In an interview with cbcpnews, Ravanera stressed that cooperativism is the key to empowering people in order for them to effectively combat poverty because “cooperatives are the coalitions of the poor to collectively have access and control over their resources which are fast slipping through their fingers.”

“Being politically and ideologically neutral,” cooperatives are in a unique position to unify all “warring forces” since cooperatives “democratize wealth and power and therefore lessen economic and social disparities,” he said.

With this, cooperatives become the unique “vehicle of empowerment to advance the Mindanawons struggle for self-determination.”

But Engr. Sylvia Okinlay-Paraguya, executive director of MASS-SPECC, told cbcpnews that cooperatives can only address one aspect of the whole issue of unpeace in Mindanao, which is economics.

Okinlay-Paraguya, a Jesuit-educated chemical engineer, said that addressing the economic issue of unpeace “is just one step towards peace” but this “doesn’t necessarily mean that we can also address the unpeace.”

She explained that the struggle of the Moro people revolved not just around economics. It also involved political issues, history, etc.

“There are areas that your intervention is economics. But if you talk about the struggle of the Moro, it’s not just economics, it’s also political, it’s going back to history when they have certain controls of land, they were able to practice their tradition, etc.,” said Okinlay-Paraguya, a Higaonon princess who was a former member of the government panel representing the indigenous peoples that negotiated peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

She said that focusing on economic intervention alone cannot solve the whole issue of unpeace in Mindanao.

However, cooperatives can help in forwarding peace initiatives in Mindanao by “addressing the economic marginalization of the people.”

“Since cooperatives are economic enterprises of people, then it can address this. It has the capacity to address certain economic issues, which is just one part of the whole question of unpeace,” she said.

She also said that cooperatives must focus on their expertise, which is economic enterprise, in order for them to be effective in their peace-building efforts.

And if cooperatives want to really address the whole aspect of unpeace in Mindanao, she has this advice: “Cooperatives have to learn about the culture of peace, about Mindanao history because if you understand Mindanao history then you will understand the struggle of the Moro and even the lumad and then you’ll know where to focus your intervention and know how to work with other people so that the issue of peace can be address fully.” (Bong D. Fabe)