For the year of 2007, the government granted P18.813 M in livelihood assistance to former NPA rebels. These 225 hardcore NPA members gave up the armed struggle in favor of living a peaceful and normal life. Of the 225, 91 came from Mindanao, 68 from Luzon and 58 from the Visayas.
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Six years to go before 2015 when our country pledged to end poverty in the UN assembly in 2000, where members of the UN pledged to meet the Millennium Development Goals. These goals are: to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development.
Internartional UN agencies such as International Labour Organization, World Health Organization, United Nations Development Fund for Women, etc. have helped in assessing developments of each UN country member.
Reports have shown that Philippines developments in these MDGs are still lagging in three areas which are (1) lagging in the achievement of universal primary education, with about 30 percent of school-age children unable to finish their elementary education; (2) in the struggle to reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS; and (3) in the improvement of maternal and child mortality.
In an effort to attain all MDGs, the UN Fund for Population (UNFPA) is now working to support local governments in the promotion of maternal and child health, including the provision of family planning services.
In the midst of Israel’s military defense in Gaza, 66 Pinoy Workers are being considered by the Department of Foreign Affairs to go back home. DFA Secretary Esteban Conejos, Jr. have asked the Pinoy OFWs if they have already resigned from work because of the continuing conflict.
To help promote the upcoming TBTK or Tigum Bol-anon sa Tibuok Kalibutan, to be held in July 2009, Bohol News Daily has started a special section on the event. A link to the special section is prominently placed on the website. In the coming months, as preparations of the TBTK intensify, this special section should help Boholanos keep track of the latest information about the event.
Motambong si Presidente Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo sa United Nations Interfaith Conference on Dialogue of Civilizations adto sa New York City.
Matud pa ni Kalihim sa Prensa Jesus Dureza, si Presidente Arroyo mao ang ika-duhang mamumulong sa maong tigum, isip usa sa nag-unang nagpasi-ugda sa “interfaith dialogue”.
Pagahisgutan sa Presidente kon unsa ka importante ang maong dayalogo ug kooperasyon ayon makab-ot ang maluntarong kalinaw dili lang sa rehiyon sa asya, kon dili sa tibuok kalibutan.
Gi-ila ang Pilipinas isip nangulo sa kalihukang “interfaith dialogue” sa Tinipong Bansa niadtong tuig 2004 sa dihang gi-pahigayon ang Tripartite Forum on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace ug gisundan sa Ministerial Meeting on Interfaith Dialogue and Cooperation for peace, dugang ni Dureza. (PIA/Bohol)
HONING further the skills of the local monitoring board (LMB) teams investigating alleged human rights abuses and violations committed by government forces and the communist rebels, the government sends in experts to train local peace workers in fact-finding missions.
The seminar workshop on fact-finding set October 14, 2008 at the Bohol Plaza Resort, gathers members of the Bohol Local Monitoring Board (LMB-Bohol) and other individuals involved in fact finding missions sent by the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) to gather information on alleged human rights abuses.
The workshop supported by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) Monitoring Committee is aimed at equipping local peace workers with the appropriate tools in fact finding missions.
As a special support arm of the PPOC and LMB Bohol, teams conduct fact finding missions on alleged human rights abuses and has become a regular PPOC activity since 2001 until it became instituted in 2004, says LMB member and Philippine Information Agency’s Yvette Bede Matabalan.
The workshop would be handled by resource persons from the Philippine Alliance of Human rights Advocates and the Commission on Human Rights national legal and investigative office, she added.
Bohol’s fact finding missions on alleged human rights abuses has been recognized as laudable by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), the GRP Peace Panel, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other government and non-government organizations.
Even the church leaders see the fact finding missions as a strategy in addressing alleged human rights abuses or violations by both government forces and the communist insurgents, said Romeo Teruel, Bohol PPOC fact finding team leader.
The GRP and the Communist Party of the Philippines New People’s Army of the National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA-NDF) initially agreed to the protocols of the comprehensive agreement on the respect for human rights and the international humanitarian law and, as signatories, both must operate within the same limitations, another PPOC member said.
The PPOC fact finding team has investigated the involvement and victimization of civilians in armed encounters between the military and rebel groups, alleged extra legal and extra judicial killings, human rights violations committed by soldiers and policemen since its creation in 2001.
Governor Erico Aumentado sits as the chairperson for LMB Bohol. (PIA/rachiu)
