Inspired by the words of PGMA when she was still Senator, “Since the quest for peace is a gargantuan task which could be achieved through the active participation of as many peace-loving citizens as possible, your campaign might be the venue for our people’s participation in the peace process.”

Banking on her words, “Rest assured that I would always be supportive of this worthy cause that you seek to propagate,” when she was a Senator, the YfP campaign was repackaged as YES FOR PEACE – Bayanihan para sa Kapayapaan and was launched Rizal High School — the biggest High School in the Philippines — by Senator Gregorio B. Honasan, Jr. 

Upon the guidance of Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Ermita, an Inter-Agency Technical Working Group was organized. It repackaged the campaign from ^DiYES for PEACE – Bayanihan para sa Kapayapaan to YES FOR PEACE – Bayanihan para sa Kapayapaan. 

The questions were reformulated in accordance with UN Resolution 53/243 – Declaration on a Culture of Peace in lieu of the International Declaration on Human Rights and the 1987 Constitution.

An Inter-agency Memorandum of Undertaking (MOU) for the national implementation of the campaign was entered into by the following: 1) Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP); 2) Department of Education (DepEd); 3) Philippine Postal Corporation (PhilPost); 4) Office of the Press Secretary – Philippine Information Agency (OPS-PIA); 5) Office of the Press Secretary – National Printing Office (OPS-NPO); 6) Girl Scouts of the Philippines (GSP); 7) Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP); 8) Alpha Phi Omega International Philippines, Incorporated (APO); and the Organizer, YES for PEACE – Bayanihan para sa Kapayapaan.

The target number of responses was pegged at Ten Million (10,000,000).  Notably, it remained to be an unfunded program that relied primarily on the commitment and delivery of services of participating institutions as specified in the Memorandum of Undertaking. No time frame was set.

Unexpectedly, Teresita Quintos – Deles, the successor of Secretary Ermita, inexplicably took a hands-off stand and ignored the campaign. She refused to help in its implementation and dissuaded OPAPP staff assigned to the Inter-Agency Technical Working Group from performing their tasks.  She never convened the Executive Committee organized by the Memorandum of Undertaking entered into by her predecessor in December 2002.

Despite the snub of the focal person on the comprehensive peace process, The campaign was reinvigorated in 2008 to underscore the need for people’s participation in the comprehensive peace process after the rejection of the BJE-MOA-AD between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The campaign was presented to the MILF Central Committee during a Press Conference on the BJE-MOA-AD held in Camp Darapanan, Maguindanao. The MILF Central Committee agreed to the YES FOR PEACE proposal for open (transparent) and participatory (participative) peace negotiations.

Its representatives, Mr. Al Camlian and Atty Samuel Buat, joined DepEd Secretary Jesli A. Lapus in relaunching the campaign once again at the Rizal High School.

Notably, without the participation of OPAPP, only Three Hundred Thirty-Four Thousand Eight Hundred Seven (334,807) responses to the responses to the set of questions formulated based on the UN Declaration for a Culture of Peace under the guidance of OPAPP in 2002 were generated during the PGMA Administration.