User:Catha Maria/sandbox

Maria Ida "Deng" Giguiento
Maria Ida Giguiento, or more known as "Deng", is a peacebuilder from the Philippines. Deng has over

40 years of experiences working in the areas of conflicts including her hometown, Cotabato City, the broader area of Mindanao, in Timor-Leste during their violent transition to independence, and also helped foster regional collaboration in conflict resolution, and trained numerous peacebuilding practitioners from the Philippines, Southeast Asia Region and worldwide.

'Herstory'
Born in Cotabato City on April 18. 1955, Deng used to hear the five-times-a-day call for prayers from the neighborhood Mosques, and the church bells calling the Catholics to attend the Holy Mass in the weekend. Deng was educated in a Catholic private Primary School and Highschool of the Notre Dame – RVM College of Cotabato, run by the Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary, and consistently received honors.

After graduated as a Medical Technologist from University of San Agustin, a prestigious Catholic University in Iloilo City, the Philippines, Deng worked in the hospital in Cotabato until she found her niche working with the Parish Church and the Archdiocese of Cotabato, and later on joined Catholic Relief Services, the humanitarian, relief and development arm of the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference.

Deng's ability to negotiate save the life of a priest during 1980s during the conflict over land rights and power by the Communist Party of the Philippines, and its armed wing - the New People’s Army (NPA) - against the Philippine government in Cotabato. Deng and the priest were on their way to visit a small village that was bombed, supposedly by the Philippine Military. Detained and threatened using automated weapons by a group of soldiers, Deng managed to calmly negotiate for their lives. This event did not deter her, but further strengthened her commitment to work in peace building through her works.

People to People Peacebuilding in Timor-Leste
Prior to Timor-Leste's violent separation to Indonesia, Deng was seconded to CRS Indonesia to support the works of the Justice of Peace Commissions (JPC) of the Dili Diocese, under Bishop Carlos Belo, and of the Baucau Diocese under Bishop Dom Basilio do Nascimento. Right after the Referendum, Deng supported JPC staffs to facilitate the repatriation of the East Timorese from the refugee camps along the Indonesia-Timor-Leste border. Deng also helped JPC in the mediation and reconciliation process between the pro-independent Timorese and the pro-Indonesian Timorese.


 * Helped the Diocese of Dili establish their Timor Leste Peacebuilding Institute (2007 – 2010), working with the Justice and Peace Ministry, bringing police and military (the conflicting groups) and youth gang leaders as well as NGOs together to live and learn together for 10 days every year.
 * Helped religious congregations deepen understanding of the context where their mission is.

Interfaith Peacebuilding

 * Worked with Military Ordinary (Bishop Leo Tumulak) to run a week-long “Peace Retreat” for 145 chaplains (Batch 1 = 73; Batch 2 = 72) military and police, Catholics and Protestants, evangelicals and Muslims
 * Drafted and implemented trainings on Interreligious Dialogue for Grassroots Peacebuilding Learning Course (GPLC) in Mindanao including the Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute
 * More recently, co-facilitated learning sessions for 10 Dioceses in Mindanao to help the faithful make well-informed choices in the forthcoming political exercise on the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

Regional Peacebuilding Networks

 * Co-facilitated meetings of Bishops (from Mindanao and Indonesia) to strengthen and foster inter-religious dialogue in this part of Asia