As I take over the editorship from Dr. Macario Tiu, who has served Tambara for six fruitful years, I invite the readers to continue supporting the university journal of the Ateneo de Davao. I am so grateful that both Gail Ilagan of the Psychology Program and Isabel Actub of the Theology Division have agreed to stay on as associate editors.

For this edition, the editorial team selected papers that somehow revolve around a cluster of themes. Mindanao conflict has always been a topic for both academics and activists. Datu Michael Mastura comes up with a strong and densely written treatise on the way out of the impasse in the current peace talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.Two women, Sheilfa Alojamiento and Mucha-Shim Arquiza, offer highly charged versions and gendered insights on the people's movements in the southernmost islands of Mindanao. Rufa Cagoco - Guiam approaches the Mindanao issue through her critical analysis of development paradigms that continue to be applied to Mindanao. This should resonate with the recently published proceedings of the Mindanao Studies Conference, Chokepoints and Checkpoints: Learning from peace and development paradigms and practices in Mindanao.

Two Jesuit priests, Antonio de Castro and Renato Oliveros, who both grew up in Jolo, derive unique lessons from their readings and their own Mindanao experiences.

We delight in publishing a hitherto unpublished manuscript of the veteran anthropologist, Stuart Schelegel, on the espiritistas among the Tedurays in the old Upi, Cotabato. Robert Panaguiton opens up a new arena for the study of spirituality through his fieldwork in Fort Pilar in Zamboanga. Research on Lumad culture and survival being a vibrant academic effort, we offer a glimpse of doing fieldwork through the articles of Verna Luga on the skigil. The foot bracelet of the Manobos.

On the national front, former Army Officer Milo D. Maestrecampo gives us an insider's view on the anatomy of military rebellion.

Starting this edition, Tambara would like to devote a section on creative work. Don Pagusara' s scalpel-sharp verses that celebrate the power of Visayan as a language of political critique more than fits the bill.

Indeed,we are fortunate to have received a good number of articles. Time and space constraints would not allow us to feature them all. We reserved some of them for the next issue.

Readers familiar with Tambara will notice that we have expanded our Book Review section, which now includes review essays and short notices. We are in the process of making Tambara a peer reviewed journal, starting next year on our 25th issue.

To order, please send postal money order to Tambara- Ateneo de Davao Univesity. Php 400 for local subscribers and USD 20 for foreign subscribers

Rev. Albert Alejo SJ., Editor