Makilala barangay officials to undergo training on human rights' laws

By Aida C. Agad

Wednesday 15th of August 2012

KORONADAL CITY, Aug15 (PIA) – The local government of Makilala is again sending this month the second batch of barangay officials to undergo training on the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect of Human Rights and the International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

Last month, officials from the town’s seven (7) barangays completed the training as part of the initiative of the LGU to strengthen their mechanisms for the protection and safety of residents in hinterland communities.

Each barangay is represented in the training by the chairman, secretary and sectoral leaders from the women, farmers and indigenour eoples (IPs).

After the CARHRIHL training, said officials are expected to establish the barangay-level monitors that shall keep an eye on violence in their communities and oversee interventions.

Said officials are also tasked to help in educating their constituents on their rights in armed conflicts as well as assist in the documentation of violations of CARHRIHL committed by warring parties.

In a statement, Mayor Rudy Caogdan said that people’s lives are his primary concern, that’s why he never ceases to find means to protect them amidst intermittent armed hostilities between government forces and rebel groups massing in the hinterlands.

Caogdan said part of his commitment is the institutionalization of these barangay level monitors in all of the 38 barangays of the locality in partnership with NGO Sulong CARHRIHL.

CARHRIHL is the first substantive accord between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) stipulated in The Hague Declaration signed by the two parties in 1992. The three others that are under negotiation include Social and Economic Reform, Political and Constitutional Reform, and the End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces. (ac agad PIA12)