FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
) 
) 
) 
Introduced by Senator Villar 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The Philippines is an archipelagic country located in Southeast Asia. It comprises 
7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean, sharing maritime borders with Indonesia, 
Malaysia, Palau, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Vietnam. 
It is home to vast mountain ranges and forests, the smallest living mammal alive 
in the Tarsier, the Philippine Eagle, the perfectly shaped cone of Mayon Volcano in 
Bicol, the Chocolate Hills of Bohol, the Tubbataha Reef in Palawan, among the world's 
best beaches, and some of the finest delicacies the world can ever taste. 
With all these, it is such a shame that the Philippines and its government is a 
country embroiled in deep conflict, not with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, or the 
Moro National Liberation Front, the Abu Sayyaf and not even the National People's 
Army. But it,is embroiled in deep conflict with fellow Filipinos. 
With this in mind, a lasting solution to the peace process is sought by this 
representation, and the creation of a government agency that will aim to create and 
foster lasting peace is recommended. 
With this in mind, the passage of this bill is earnestly sought. 
ILLAR 
, ' , 


FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
) 
) 
) 
SENATE 
S. B. 2482 
Introduced by Senator Villar 
AN ACT 
TO ESTABLISH A DEPARTMENT OF PEACE IN THE PHILIPPINES 
Be it enacted by the Senate of the Philippines and the House of Representatives in 
Congress assembled: 
Act." 
Section 1. Short Title. This Act shall be known as the "Department of Peace 
Section 2. Declaration of Policies. It is hereby declared the policy of the State: 
1. To promote human security, 
peace-building, 
peace-making, 
and the 
nonviolent resolution of conflict principles; 
2. To develop and support suitable programs to encourage and assist research, 
education, training, advocacy, and policy-making centered on the promotion 
of human security, peace-building, peace-making, and the nonviolent 
resolution of conflict principles; 
3. To provide suitable incentives and rewards for those provinces and regions 
that espouse peaceful and nonkilling principles; and 
4. To assist and encourage those communities that experience more violence 
and killings in order to alleviate and improve their condition; 
Section. 3. Establishment of a Department of Peace. There is hereby 
established a DEPARTMENT OF PEACE (hereinafter referred to as the "Department"). 
Section 4. Mandate of the Department. - The Department shall -
1. Formulate, recommend and implement national advocacies, plans, programs 
and guidelines that will promote and uphold a peaceful, non-violent and non-
killing principles; 
2. Initiate, harmonize and coordinate all peace keeping, non-violent and non-
. killing initiatives of the government and its respective agencies; 
3. Strengthen civilian and non-military means of peacemaking; 
4. Promote a proactive, strategic approach in the development of policies and 
programs that promote domestic and international conflict prevention, non-
violent intervention, mediation, peaceful resolution of conflict, and structured 
mediation of conflict; 
5. Encourage the development of initiatives from . local communities, religious 
groups, and non-governmental organizations toward peace; 


Represent and negotiate for government interest on matters pertaining to 
peace, understanding, and cooperation in local and international bodies. 
Section 5. Secretary of Peace. - The Department of Peace shall be headed by 
a Secretary of Peace (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the "Secretary"), who shall be 
appointed by the President of the Philippines and whose appointment shall be subject to 
confirmation by the Commission on Appointments. 
The Secretary shall have the following responsibilities and powers: 
A. IN GENERAL - The Secretary shall-
1. Work proactively and interactively with each branch of the National Government 
on all policy matters relating to conditions of violence, peace, nonkilling and 
conflict resolution; 
2. Act as the spokesman on matters of violence, peace, non killing and conflict 
resolution; 
3. Engage the intellectual and spiritual resources of the Filipino people in the 
pursuit of peace, nonkilling and conflict resolution; 
4. Monitor and analyze causative principles of conflict and make policy 
recommendations for developing and maintaining peaceful conduct, and the 
prevention of crisis and violence; 
5. Promote and develop program(s) involving citizen participation in all the 
elements from peace-building, peace-making and peace-keeping; 
6. Develop an intercultural competence to manage conflicts among individuals and 
groups. 
7. Assist in the establishment and funding of community-based violence prevention 
programs, including violence prevention and counseling and peer mediation in 
schools; 
8. Develop 
strategies 
and 
implement 
programs 
to 
address 
unhealthy 
manifestations of violence in Filipino culture as they relate to both humans and 
animals. 
B. HUMAN SECURITY RESPONSIBILITIES - The Secretary shall address and offer 
nonviolent conflict resolution strategies to all relevant parties on issues of human 
security if such security is threatened by conflict, whether such conflict is geographic, 
religious, ethnic, racial, or class-based in its origin, derives from economic concerns 
(including trade or misdistribution of wealth), or is initiated through disputes concerning 
scarcity of natural resources (such as water and energy resources), food trade, 
environmental and gender concerns. 
C. EDUCATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES - The Secretary shall-
1. Cooperate with scholars, educators and civil society organizers 
In their 
development of peace and human rights education 
which shall include 
studies of-
a. The human rights movement in the Philippines, Asia, and throughout 
the world, with special emphasis on how cooperative endeavor and 
involvement have contributed to advancements in peace and justice, 
and; 
b. Peace agreements and circumstances in which peaceful intervention 
has worked to stop conflict; 
2. Offer incentives in the form of grants and training to encourage the 
development of provincial and city peace curricula and assist schools in 
applying for such curricula; 
3. Set up, maintain and publish the Philippine Index of Killing and Nonkilling as a 
periodic recording, monitoring, and mapping of the incidence of violence and 
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killings, as well as of nonviolence and nonkilling, in various parts of the 
country and the entire archipelago; 
4. Provide suitable incentives and rewards for those provinces and regions that 
excel in developing peaceful and non killing communities; and assist and 
encourage those communities that experience more violence and killings in 
order to alleviate and improve their condition; 
5. Work with educators to equip students to become skilled in achieving peace 
through reflection, and facilitate instruction in the ways of peaceful conflict 
prevention and resolution; 
6. Maintain a site on the Internet for the purposes of soliciting and receiving 
ideas for the development of peace from the wealth of political, social and 
cultural diversity in the country and the world; 
7. Proactively engage the critical thinking capabilities of grade school, high 
school, and university students and teachers through the Internet and other 
media; 
8. Provide grants for peace studies departments in colleges and universities 
throughout the Philippines. 
D. DOMESTIC RESPONSIBILITIES - The Secretary shall ---
1. Support local community initiatives that can draw neighborhood resources to 
avoid and reduce or stop killing, create peace projects that facilitate the 
development of conflict prevention and resolution at the local and national 
levels and thereby inform and inspire national policy for peace; 
2. Develop community-based strategies for celebrating diversity in languages, 
cultures, and religions, promoting respect, and combating prejudice and 
discrimination; 
3. Assist in the establishment and funding of community-based violence 
prevention 
programs, 
including 
non-killing, 
and 
violence 
prevention 
counseling and peer mediation in schools; 
4. Develop policies that address domestic violence, including spousal abuse, 
child abuse and maltreatment of the elderly; 
5. Develop policies to address violence against animals; 
6. Analyze existing policies, employ successful, field-tested programs, and 
develop new approaches for dealing with the implements of violence, 
including gun-related violence and the overwhelming presence of handguns; 
7. Develop new programs that relate to the societal challenges of school 
violence, gangs, racial or ethnic violence, violence against gays and lesbians, 
and police-community relations disputes; 
8. Make policy recommendations to the Secretary of Justice regarding human 
rights and labor law; 
9. Counsel and advocate on behalf of women victimized by violence; 
10. Contribute to 
public education programs and counseling strategies 
. concerning hate crimes; 
11. Promote respect for racial, religious, and ethnic diversity; and 
12. Ensure that the principles of building a culture of peace guide regional official 
languages and employment of equity policies. 
E. INTERNATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES - The Secretary shall ---
1. Advise the Secretary of National Defense, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and 
the Secretary of Interior and Local Government on all matters relating to 
domestic peace and to human and national security, including the protection of 
human rights and the prevention of, amelioration of, and de-escalation of 
unarmed and armed domestic and international conflict; 
2. Provide for the training of all government personnel who administer post-conflict 
reconstruction and demobilization in war-torn communities; 
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3. Sponsor country and regional conflict prevention and dispute resolution 
initiatives, create special task forces, and draw on local, regional, and national 
expertise to develop plans and programs for addressing the root sources of 
conflict and violence in troubled areas; 
4. Provide for exchanges between the Philippines and other nations of individuals 
who endeavor to develop domestic and international peace-based initiatives; 
5. Administer the training of civilian peace-keepers who participate in multinational 
non-violent police forces and support civilian police who participate in peace-
keeping; 
6. Facilitate the development of peace summits at which parties to a conflict may 
gather under carefully prepared conditions to promote nonviolent communication 
and mutually beneficial solutions; 
7. Submit to the President recommendations for reductions in weapons of violence 
and destruction including stopping their proliferation; 
8. Advice the Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations on 
matters pertaining to violence and peace, and the United Nations Security 
Council; and 
9. Provide ethical and value-based analyses of issues and problems to the 
Department of National Defense and the Department of Interior and Local 
Government. 
Section 6. CompOSition. The Department of Peace shall be headed by a 
Secretary. The Department proper shall be composed of the Office of the Secretary, 
the Office of the Undersecretary, and Bureau Directors who shall function as follows: 
1. UNDERSECRETARY OF PEACE -
There shall be in the Department an 
Undersecretary of Peace, who shall be appointed by the President. The 
Under-Secretary shall designate the order in which other officials of the 
Department shall act for and perform ihe functions of the Secretary during the 
absence or disability of the Secretary. 
2. BUREAR DIRECTORS -
There shall be in the Department such Bureau 
Directors as may be necessary and authorized by law. 
Section 7. Bureau of Peace Education and Training --- There shall be in the 
Department a Bureau of Peace Education and Training (Bureau) who shall carry out 
those functions of the Department relating to the creation, encouragement, and impact 
of peace education and training at the elementary, secondary, university, and post-
graduate levels, including the development of a Civilian Peace Service (CPS). 
The Bureau shall cooperate with the public and private schools in their 
development of peace curricula and learning materials concerned with buildingpeace 
communication 
skills, non-violent conflict resolution skills, and other objectives to 
increase the knowledge of peace and non-killing conditions and processes. 
The Director for Peace Education and Training shall ---
1. Provide peace education grants to colleges and universities for the creation 
and expansion of peace studies departments; and 
2. Create a Community Peace Grant program under which grants shall be 
provided to not-for-profit community and non-governmental organizations for 
the purposes of developing creative, innovative neighborhood programs for 
non-violent conflict resolution and local peace-building initiatives. 
Section 8. Bureau for Domestic Peace 
There shall be a Bureau for Domestic Peace. This Bureau, in collaboration with 
local government leaders, shall be responsible for promoting and undertaking domestic 
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peace activities, including the development of policies that increase awareness about 
intervention and counseling on domestic violence and conflict, and those functions in 
the Department affecting research and analysis relating to creating, initiating and 
modeling approaches to peaceful engagement and non-violent conflict resolution. 
The Director for Domestic Peace Activities shall ---
1. Develop policies and build on existing programs responsive to the prevention 
of violence and killing, including the development of community policing 
strategies and peaceful settlement skills among local officials and police and 
other public safety officers; 
2. Develop community-based strategies for promoting and celebrating diversity 
and promoting respect for such diversity; 
3. Study the impact of violence and war, especially on the physical and mental 
condition of children. 
4. Implement the UN Resolution 1325 to promote enhanced participation of 
women in peace in all aspects of peace activities ranging from peace-making, 
peace-building to post-conflict reconstruction; 
5. Review and implement UN deliberations on Rapid Response (R2P2) -
Responsibility to Protect; 
6. Publish a monthly joumal of the activities of the Department and encourage 
scholarly participation; 
7. Gather information on effective community peace-building activities and 
disseminate such information to local governments and non-governmental 
organizations in the Philippines and abroad; 
8. Conduct research on the effect of violence in the media and make such 
reports available to Congress annually; and 
9. Sponsor conferences in the Philippines to create awareness of the work of 
the Department. 
Section 9. Bureau for International Peace (BIP) - There shall be a Bureau of 
rnternational Peace, the Director. This Bureau shall be responsible for the country's 
international peace activities. 
The Director for International Peace shall ---
1. Provide for the training and deployment of all Civilian Peace Service 
. graduates and other non-military conflict prevention and peace-making 
personnel; 
2. Sponsor country and regional conflict prevention and dispute resolution 
initiatives in countries experiencing social, political, or economic strife; 
3. Advocate the creation of a multi-national non-violent peace force; 
4. Provide training for the administration of post-conflict reconstruction and 
demobilization in war-torn societies; 
5. Provide for the exchanges between individuals of the Philippines and other 
nations who are endeavoring to develop domestic and international peace-
based initiatives; 
6. Carry out those functions affecting arms control programs and arms limitation 
agreements; 
7. Advise the Secretary of Peace on all inter-agency discussions and all 
international negotiations regarding the reduction and elimination of weapons 
of mass destruction throughout the world, including the dismantling of such 
weapons and the safe and secure storage of materials related thereto; 
8. Assist nations, international agencies and non-governmental organizations in 
assessing the locations of the build-up of nuclear weapons; 
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9. Develop non-violent strategies to deter the testing or use of offensive or 
defensive nuclear weapons, whether based on land, air, sea, or in outer 
space; 
10. Serve as a depository for copies of all contracts, agreements and treaties that 
deal with the reduction and elimination of nuclear weapons or the protection 
of outer space from militarization; and 
11. Provide technical support and legal assistance for the implementation of such 
agreements. 
Section 10. Bureau of Human Rights and Economic Rights (BHR). --- There 
shall be a Bureau of Human Rights and Economic Rights. This Bureau shall perform 
those functions in the Department supporting the principles of the Universal Declaration 
of Human Rights passed by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 
10, 1948, arid subsequent UN Declarations on Human Rights. 
The Director for Human Rights and Economic Rights shall ---
1. Assist the Secretary of Peace and the Undersecretary of Peace in furthering the 
incorporation of principles of human rights, as enunciated in the United Nations 
General Assembly Resolution 217A (III) of December 10, 1948, into all 
agreements between the Philippines 
and other nations to help reduce the 
causes of violence; 
2. Gather information on and document human rights abuses, both domestically 
and internationally, and recommend to the Secretary non-violent responses to 
correct abuses; 
3. Make such findings available to other agencies in order to facilitate non-violent 
conflict resolution; 
4. Provide trained observers to work with non-governmental organizations for 
purposes of creating a climate that is conducive to the respect for human rights; 
5. Conduct economic analyses of the scarcity of human and natural resources as a 
source of conflict and make recommendations to the Secretary of Peace for non-
violent prevention of such scarcity, non-violent intervention in case of such 
scarcity, and the development of programs of assistance for people experiencing 
such scarcity, whether due to armed conflict, maldistribution of resources, or 
natural causes; and 
6. Assist the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of Finance, in 
developing strategies regarding the sustainability and the management of the 
distribution of funds from international agencies, the conditions regarding the 
receipt of such funds, and the impact of those conditions on the peace and 
stability of the recipient nations. 
Section 11. Consultation in drafting treaties and agreements. The Department 
of Peace shall be consulted in the drafting of treaties and peace agreements. 
Section 12. Consultation in cases of conflict. 
In any case in which a conflict 
between the Philippines and any foreign government or entity is imminent or occurring, 
the Secretary of National Defense and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs shall consult with 
the Secretary of Peace concerning nonviolent means of conflict resolution. 
1. In any case in which such a conflict is ongoing or recently concluded, the 
Secretary of Peace shall conduct independent studies of diplomatic initiatives 
undertaken by the Philippines and other parties to the conflict. 
, 
2. In any case in which such a conflict has recently been concluded, the 
Secretary of Peace shall assess the effectiveness of those initiatives in ending the 
conflict. 
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3. The Secretary of Peace shall establish a formal process of consultation in a 
timely manner with the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of National 
Defense -prior to the initiation of any armed conflict between the Philippines and 
any other nation; and for any matter involving the use of the Department of National 
Defense personnel within the Philippines. 
Section 13. Advisory Council for Peace. 
The Secretary of Peace, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, the Secretary of 
National Defense, and the Secretary of Interior and Local Government shall form an 
Advisory Council for Peace, chaired by the Secretary of Peace. The Advisory Council 
shall report to and advise the President, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker 
of the House of Representatives, and make recommendations about the affairs and 
policies of the Department relating to peace, nonkilling, and nonviolent conflict 
resolution. The Council facilitated by the Secretary of Peace shall also serve as a 
national and international sounding board and nexus for fostering domestic and 
international peace. 
Section 14. Responsibilities. The Chairman of the Advisory Council shall: 
1. Provide a forum for representatives of international actors, national, and local 
governments to discuss peace issues; 
2. Promote better intergovernmental relations; and 
3. Submit, Biennially or more frequently if determined necessary by the Council, 
a report to the President, the Senate, the House of Representatives reviewing the 
impact of national and international peace activities on provincial and local 
governments and communities. 
Secti'on 15. Repealing Clause. 
All laws, presidential decrees, letters of 
instruction,· executive orders, rules and regulations, or any part thereof inconsistent with 
this Act shall be amended or modified accordingly. 
Section 16. Effectivity. -
This Act shall take effect after fifteen (15) days 
following its publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two newspapers of general 
circulation. 
Approved. 
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