Phillipines: Region 8 peace advocates form regional mechanism for peace process

Tacloban City (April 2) -- Peace Advocates from all provinces of Region 8 converged at the MacArthur Park Resort on April 1 to April 2 in order to tackle the creation of a regional quick response mechanism to address human rights violations such as extra judicial killings and enforced disappearances.

Process, the orientation on Task Force Kasangga is in line with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's thrust for the Regional KALAHI Convergence Groups in all regions to act as Regional mechanism for the peace process.

In his opening address, Presidential Assistant for Eastern Visayas Hon. Victor Domingo called on the participants to bond together and do their share in order to attain lasting peace in the Region. The achievement of Peace, he said, is not the duty of the men in uniform alone, the Local Government Units, the non- government organizations and all sectors of society must do its share.

While the peace negotiations have not yet gone back to the negotiation table, Secretary Domingo said that in the meantime, there are the families of the victims to attend to, and that is why the Task Force Kasangga, Secretary Domingo said, will be composed of three teams namely, the Humanitarian Team; the Advocacy Team; and the Monitoring Team. These teams will assist in operationalizing the different components of this initiative at the regional and local levels.

Before tackling the creation of the Task Force Kasangga, the participants had a review of the fundamentals of human rights so that they will be able to capably look into and address serious human rights and international humanitarian law violations such as extra judicial killings and enforced disappearances, violations of the Comprehensive Agreement for the Respect for Human Rights, Violence against women and children and harassment and violations of the Indigenous People's Rights Act.

The proposed quick response coordination mechanism will focus its interventions both in providing humanitarian support to the victims and families, and in effecting coordination among concerned agencies to speed up investigation and resolution of cases. It is also envisioned to implement proactive measure to deter similar incidents from happening in other parts of the Region.

(Philippine Information Agency 8 - Region 8 peace advocates form regional mechanism for peace process)