Gov’t negotiator with MILF given peace award

Just days after the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) drafted the framework for a peace agreement in Mindanao, one of the negotiators was cited as a role model for peace by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Secretary Teresita Q. Deles and other advocates from conflict-wracked Asian countries on Tuesday received the N-PEACE Awards in rites attended by President Benigno Aquino at New World Hotel in Makati City.

Speaking of the imminent signing of the agreement with the MILF that would lead to an autonomous Moro homeland, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Luiza Carvalho congratulated Deles for her “example and tireless efforts in peace-building.’’

“That a woman in the person of Secretary Deles is at the helm of peace-building affairs in the Philippines is no doubt a testament to the effective leadership women are capable of demonstrating in rallying the country around the peaceful resolution of armed conflicts,’’ Carvalho said in a speech.

The N-PEACE Award is a UNDP initiative supported by the Australian Agency for International Development in alliance with Search for Common Ground and the Institute for Inclusive Security. Started in 2010, the initiative provides a platform for multi-stakeholder engagements and dialogues to promote conflict prevention and peace-building goals at the national and sub-national levels.

The N-PEACE (Engage for Peace, Equality, Access, Community and Empowerment) Network cited Deles for being the first woman to be appointed a presidential adviser on the peace process in 2003. In 2010, she was reappointed when the Philippines adopted the National Action Plan on UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.

She cofounded the Coalition for Peace, the country’s first citizens’ peace group to emerge after the 1986 People Power revolt that ousted strongman Ferdinand Marcos. Her work helped lay the groundwork for landmark reform policy such as the Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act, Indigenous People’s Rights Act and the Anti-Rape Law, the N-PEACE said.

Mr. Aquino testified to Deles’ dedication to her advocacies, sharing an anecdote about her. He said he once marched with her in a rally against corruption and even after she had lost the soles of her shoes she walked on barefoot.

“And I am as certain of her dedication as I am of her discomfort now. Ging was never one to point to her own sacrifices, knowing that so many others had done as much and more in the name of the cause they believed in,’’ Mr. Aquino said.

The other awardees were Farkhunda Zahra Naderi of the Afghan Parliament; Quhramaana Kakar, former gender advisor for the Afghanistan Peace and Reconciliation Program; Radha Paudel, founder and president of Action Works in Nepal; Sister Lourdes, founder of Solidarity Network in Timor-Leste, Suraiya Kamaruzzaman, human rights defender and women’s right activist and founder of the Flower Aceh in Indonesia, and Rupika de Silva, founder of Saviya, a women’s NGO in Sri Lanka.