INTERNATIONAL peace advocacy group Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL) gathered peace advocates, youth leaders, educators, and religious leaders during the screening of the documentary film Peacemaker held on July 19, 2025 at Red Carpet Cinema 1, Shangri-La Plaza Mall. The event brought to light the remarkable peace initiatives led by HWPL Chairman Lee Man-hee, a South Korean war veteran turned global peace advocate.
The film chronicled the Chairman's tireless efforts to end war and conflict through dialogue, cooperation, and international solidarity. One of the film’s pivotal highlights is the creation of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW), a groundbreaking document that proposes 10 articles and 38 clauses to serve as a legal and moral framework for governments and civil societies to prevent war and institutionalize peace.
Guests in attendance expressed deep admiration for the global campaigns documented in the film, especially HWPL’s grassroots peace education, interfaith dialogues, and diplomatic engagements across continents including the peace efforts made in various parts of the Philippines, most especially in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Peacemaker shed light on a global movement involving thousands of volunteers and partner organizations working to make peace not just an ideal but a practical reality.
Asked about his overall impression of the film, Century Pacific Foods Chief Operations Officer and Executive Vice President Gregory Banzon said, “I found it very interesting. I think the strategy of the chairman is on point, really bringing the issue to a national, global scale, and all the way up to the UN."
Moreover, the event also serves as a reminder for Filipinos to take active roles in peacebuilding efforts in their communities.
Ivan Gozum, a faculty member of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and PRO of Religious Educators Association of the Philippines (REAP), expressed how he was moved by the documentary, "When I was looking at the title I thought... Peacemaker, ito yung papanood ko, ito yung superhero. Pero while watching the advocacy of Chairman Lee and then we talked about the cessation of war, peace education, religious harmony, I think my impression on the title "Peacemaker" and the [superhero series] is connected because I think, in a certain way, Chairman Lee's advocacy and the HWPL advocacy as a peacemaker is somehow really an effort of a hero, a modern day hero to really promote peace amid conflict, amid wars that are happening in our world right now."
Hindu priest Rev. Archarya Prem Shankaranand Tirth said, “Peace in the world is really very much needed. We are humans but we have been divided by religions, by colors, by race, through so many political things. This work of the HWPL is trying its best to make humanity as one.” He added, “to all of you and to everyone who will watch, please... see how common things are there to make us one, not to be divided, but to connect as a human.”
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