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Norwegian peace mediator Johan Galtung urged the exercise of more creativity and concreteness in tackling the on-going problem with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and stressed the need for multi-dimensional approaches in finding a solution. He further espoused the importance of not being limited by specific paradigms and called for a change in one’s mindset, endorsing the idea of a “tetralemma” vis-à-vis the traditional “dilemma” model of thinking; a “tetralemma” approach to conflict examines multi-dimensional perspectives rather than the traditional ‘either/or’ perspective.

Galtung addressed members of the Philippine government and civil society groups during the 83rd edition of the Globalization Lecture Series on "Peace, Conflict Transformation and Global Financial Crisis.", organized by the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center and supported by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and Pax Christi International. He visited the Philippines on invitation of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches and conducted several talks with government officials and the negotiating parties in the peace process.

Professor Galtung is the founder of Transcend International, a network for Peace and Development. He is a renowned international expert on conflict mediation and resolution and has had over 50 years of experience under his belt; he further commented that the current paradigm of the Philippine government of “Disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration” (DDR) was “…not the solution to the Bangsamoro issue.”

Galtung further proposed federalism as one of the possible solutions, urging all parties to study several models of federalism across the world, and not that just of the United States, as federalism varies largely from country to country.