GPH Panel for talks with the MILF

Chair: Dean Marvic MVF Leonen

Panel Chair Dean Marvic MVF Leonen is the Dean of the University of the Philippines - College of Law. Last July 19, 2010, Dean Leonen was designated by president Benigno Simeon Aquino III as the Panel Chair for the Government Peace Negotiating Panels for Talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Dean Leonen is an expert in the fields of Constitutional Law, Agrarian Reform Law, Philippine Indigenous law and Civil Procedure. He served as a regualr faculty of the Up College of Law since 1989. His advocacy extends to areas of human rights, agrarian reform, ancestral domain and health. Apart from his active engagements in the field of law, he also served as the vice-President for Legal Affairs and university General Counsel of the UP System.

He obtained his AB Economics (magna cum laude) and Law Degree from UP and his Master of Laws from the College of Law of Columbia University in New York

E-mail address: chairgrpmilftalks@gmail.com

Members:

Professor Miriam Coronel-Ferrer
Panel member Miriam Coronel-Ferrer is a professor of political science at the University of the Philippines - Diliman. Her areas of specialization are peace and conflict studies, human rights and international humanitarian law, and comparative politics of Southeast Asia. Professor Ferrer was one of the 27 Filipina Nominees to the 1,000 Women for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize Nominations. She has written several books and journal articles on peace process, civil society, and regional autonomy. Before joining the government panel, Ferrer was involved in various national and global peace campaigns and had served as visiting professor in several Asian universities.

E-mail address: mcf178@yahoo.com

Secretary Senen Bacani
Panel member Senen Bacani served as the Agriculture Secretary from 1990-1992, during the administration of Corazon Aquino. During his term, he was hailed as the Most Outstanding Cabinet Member by the Philippine Senate. Among his notable awards are the Benedictine Centennial Award for Outstanding Achievement in Agriculture (1995), Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year (2006), La Sallian Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship (2008) and the 1st Ramon V. del Rosario Sr. Award for Nation Building (2010).

At present Sec. Bacani holds key positions with a number of companies and institutions which include Ultrex Management and Investments Corporation, la Frutera Inc., Truly Natural Food Corporation, and Swift Foods Inc.

E-mail address: scbacani@ultrex.com.ph

YASMIN BUSRAN-LAO
Panel member Yasmin Busran-Lao is a peace and civil society advocate who seeks gender justice for Muslim women. She founded the Al-Mujadillah Development Foundation, one of the few institutional Muslim women NGOs, in 1997 shortly after she attended the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women as a representative of the feminist group PILIPINA.

She works with disadvantaged communities and the women of Muslim Mindanao having grown up amid its violent conflict and grinding poverty. For her efforts, she was granted in 2005 the Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Fellowship for Professional Development award given by the American Embassy and the Benigno S. Aquino Foundation.

Lao, an AB Psychology magna cum laude graduate from Far Eastern University, pursued higher education in Clinical-Counseling Psychology at the Ateneo de Manila University. She was the only female Muslim senatorial candidate under the Liberal Party during the May 2010 election.

DR. HAMID A. BARRA
A respected Islamic scholar from Lanao del Sur, panel member Dr. Hamid A. Barra is a lawyer, an aleem (religious authority) and a teacher who has produced a rich body of work on Islam, gender, democracy, environment, peace and interfaith dialogue, and Shari’ah.

He was the former dean of the King Faisal Center for Islamic, Asian and Arabic Studies of the Mindanao State University in Marawi City and the former Education secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Aside from his law degree from the Mindanao State University, he finished his Master’s degree in Comparative Laws and his Ph.D. in Islamic Law and Jurisprudence from the International Islamic University in Malaysia.

Barra also served as the Project Director of the Empowering the Ulama Project funded by the British Embassy through the Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Ulama Conference of the Philippines. He used to be the Co-Convenor of the Bishops-Ulama Conference, representing the Ulama League of the Philippines, taking the place of the late Dr. Mahid M. Mutilan. He is the Chairman of the Philippine USRAH Foundation, Inc.

ALTERNATE MEMBER:

Mayor Ramon Piang Sr.
Mayor Ramon Piang belongs to the teduray tribe and has been active in the advancement of the rights of the indigenous peoples. He has served as the Mayor of Upi for three terms and has served as the Vice mayor of the same town in june 2010. In April 2011, he again became the Mayor of Upi.

Mayor Piang was one of the Ten Outstanding Mayors in 2003 and was named the Most Exemplary Individual by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation 3rd Triennial Award in 2006. He has likewise paved the way for Upi to receive the following accolades: Kaagapay Seal of Excellence in Local Governments (2004), Gawad Galing Pook Award for Tri-People Way of Conflict Resolution  (2004), Most Outstanding LGU for Promise of Hilal (2009) and the Most Outstanding LGU for Bantugan (2010).

E-mail address: rap_upians@yahoo.com

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