Philippines National Unification Commission: national consultations and the ‘Six Paths to Peace’ Miriam Coronel Ferrer (2002) In 1992, the Philippines’ President Ramos launched a nationwide consultation process to develop a strategy for talks with the country’s various armed groups. Miriam Coronel Ferrer describes the National Unification Commission (NUC) and the consultation process this set in motion. Despite shortcomings, including both the diffuse nature of the consulted groups and the exclusion of others, the NUC’s report was groundbreaking in recognizing poverty and inequality as the primary causes of conflict and in setting out the ‘Six Paths to Peace’ that became the operational framework for government peace policy. The process reinvigorated the peace process, raised public awareness, helped crystallize a network of peace organizations and made public consultation a part of governance. However, Ferrer warns that consultation exercises without consequences can be counter-productive.
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