No amount of rainfall from the super typhoons could flood away the enthusiasm of international delegates and Filipino participants to the World March for Peace and Non-Violence.

With the United Nations’ International Day of Non-Violence last Oct. 2, the World Without Wars (WWW) organization began the very first World March for Peace and Non-Violence in New Zealand, known to be the world’s most peaceful country.

For three months, a group of international delegates is traveling across different continents to promote peace and non-violence, ending in Argentina on January 2, 2010.

The Philippines was the third country visited by the group. Despite some postponed activities in Pasig, the WWW and their Filipino partners Ang Komunidad and Ang Kapisanan ng Tao Bilang Centro continued on with other programs in Manila, Zamboanga City and Lucena City.

THE BIGGEST HUMAN PEACE SIGN IN THE WORLD

More than just a march, the historic event in Lucena City became an expression of art and a showcase of the Banahaw culture and Philippine history.

It was a breathtaking sight of a gigantic human peace sign formed by about 10, 000 students of the Quezon National High School (QNHS) in Lucena City last Oct. 7.

Waving orange-colored flaglets to the reggae beat of Tropical Depression’s “Kapayapaan”, the students descended from the bleachers, religiously following their designated lines while being touched by the tickling light rain and gentle warmth of the sun – until the 100-meter in diameter peace sign was formed.

This internationally recognized symbol for peace was originally designed for the British nuclear disarmament movement in the 1960s. The symbol itself is a combination of the semaphoric signals for the letters “N” and “D,” standing for Nuclear Disarmament. In semaphore the letter “N” is formed by a person holding two flags in an upside-down “V,” and the letter “D” is formed by holding one flag pointed straight up and the other pointed straight down. Superimposing these two signs forms the shape of the peace symbol.

The marchers in Lucena City were serenaded by the Sacred Heart College (SHC) Violin Ensemble. It was followed by a dance interpretation of the legendary Beatles song “Imagine” by the QNHS Quesinhayaw Cultural Troupe. It was definitely a morning feast of colors, sound and movements all for the upholding of peace.

NO OTHER WAY BUT NON-VIOLENCE

Another momentous part of the program was the declaration that non-violence is the only means to end war, and that peace is only way to move forward.

This was made more significantly Filipino by the Panata sa Kapayapaan ng Sandaigdigan written by Maria Lourdes B. Abulencia, a former rebel who married a Catholic priest in the underground left of the 1970s. She became a peace educator who organized for the Commission on Human Rights the very first human rights education training program for the police and military in 1987.

With the formation of human peace sign, an overwhelmed Isabelle Bourgeois from Switzerland exclaimed “We are extremely, extremely touched by your presence… we can really feel the beat of your heart one by one.”

Ending the program was the lighting of the Hiroshima Flame from the ashes of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb victims.

Facing the young marchers, the ones who are “next in line,” Pierre Hennico from Belgium left a challenge by saying “you, youth, are the hope... we will have peace and we will win!”

Just as Maria, also the president of LIRA (Liwanag Institute of Ritual Arts) and member of Kuta ng Sining, had written in her book “Agapé: Maria’s Notebook,” from these rituals of peace-building arise a kapatiran among the international and local marchers. It was Carmen Cabling, a promoter of the protection of Mt. Banahaw with her publication of Banahaw Komiks, who repeatedly said how serendipitous the happenings were even from the beginning of the humanist movement.

CHALLENGES

The poet and mystic Mario Rodriguez Cobos, the inspiration of the humanist movement that aims for a society in which human rights are completely realized, the human being as the center of value, came from Argentina. From this humanist movement sprung WWW that initiated the World March for Peace and Non-Violence. It was founded by Rafael dela Rubia in 2008 and launched at the Punta de Vacas of Mt. Aconcagua in Mendoza, Argentina — the second highest mountain in the world — which echoes to the world a call for peace and non-violence as a way of life.

This summon is now being responded to by the Philippines’ own mystical mountain of Banahaw on the boundaries of Laguna and Quezon provinces which has long been a witness to the many revolutions of Filipinos. A number of literary pieces on Mt. Banahaw and the several mutinies around it had already been written and among them is the contemporary Sylvia L. Mayuga, also an advocate of the mountain through Luntiang Alyansa sa Bundok Banahaw (LABB) which she co-founded in 1997.

This advocacy will definitely not end in the peace march. A multi-sector interim coalition named BAKAS (Buklurang Alay sa Kapayapaan ng Sandaigdigan) was assembled in September by Carmen Cabling, Maria Abulencia and Maria Carmen Marasigan, president of Kuta ng Sining.

Composed of artists from Kuta ng Sining, Muslim brothers from their association in Lucena City, school personnel from Sacred Heart College, fisher folks and farmers from FARMC and BINHI, and environmentalists from the organization Tanggol Kalikasan, BAKAS will continue initiating programs in the province to uphold non-violent means to attain peace. Examples of which are the Million Peace Signs and Peace Education.

It is also very timely that the Congress and the Senate have passed both bills proclaiming Mt. Banahaw in Quezon and Mt. San Cristobal in Laguna as a protected landscape. In the Lower House, Rep. Alcala is co-author of Rep. Ivy Arago from the 3rd District of Laguna in the House Bill 4299, while in the Upper House is Senator Pia Cayetano, principal author of the Senate Bill 2392.

With the unexpected super typhoons looming over the country, it truly is high time for Filipinos to take a stand and act to care for whatever is left of the environment.

Impending another catastrophe, should there be more typhoons and less concern for the environment, a collaboration of Tanggol Kalikasan, the Region IV-A Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the congressional offices and local government units of Laguna and Quezon, and different affiliations of mountaineers will have a two-day clean up activity in Mt. Banahaw on Oct. 23 and 24. A concert for Mt. Banahaw, dubbed as “Rakrakan para sa Kalikasan,” will feature local bands like Kulbit of Lucena City and other musicians and singers like Lou Bonnevie on the night of Oct. 24. at the Alcala Sports Center in Dolores, Quezon will take place.

The world today may be missing the presence of peace and non-violence leaders of history like Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. The Philippines still mourns for Cory Aquino. More than the icon, what the world needs now is unity among all people. Only by then can Filipinos honestly, and proudly, say “walang iwanan sa bayan ni Juan.”

Katherine Ann V. Ursolino is a graduate of AB Interdisciplinary Studies from the Ateneo de Manila University. She is currently working as moderator of The Heart, the official publication of the Higher Education Department, and staff of the Public Relations Office, both at Sacred Heart College in Lucena City. She is also an active member of BAKAS (Buklurang Alay sa Kapayapaan ng Sandaigdigan).