Dr. Rogelio Bayod, the man behind the success of the Social Ethics Society as an organization, will present a seminal paper on the unique contribution of Mindanao to Philosophy in the Philippines. The Waseda Conference is itself a product of the time and effort put forward by the men and women of the SES, who are continually doing their share in the internationalization of the organization, all for the unwavering desire to enhance philosophical reflection in Mindanao by engaging with global scholars. Dr. Bayod himself has brought the likes of Dr. Darryl Macer, Dr. Daniel Mishori, and Dr. Wataru Kusaka to the campuses of Mindanao-based schools.
The paper is entitled "Whispers from the Margins: Towards, Mindanawon Philosophy, Power, and Philippine Democracy." It is an attempt to reflect on the problems, issues and approach that Mindanao thinkers thought to address the challenges of our time. The paper is not meant to compete with Manila scholarship. Mindanao's small part of the discussion is influential but not well-pronounced, from the contributions of Karl Gaspar to the important works of Dr. Renante Pilapil, Fr. Albert Alejo, Dr. Romulo Bautista, and Fr. Mike Moga, including the contentious arguments on radical politics by Dr. Christopher Ryan Maboloc or Menelito Mansueto’s novel ideas on decoloniality.