News Updates - 1 February 2010 (Monday)

MILF umapela sa CHR
By Al Jacinto
Abante – www.abante.com.ph
Lunes, Pebrero 1, 2010

ZAMBOANGA CITY --- Umapela kahapon ang Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) sa Commission on Human Rights (CHR) na imbestigahan nito ang umano’y pagpatay sa isang Muslim na natagpuan ‘di kalayuan sa isang detachment ng militar sa magulong lalawigan ng Basilan.

Sinabi ng rebeldeng grupo na si Najim Nitih, 28, ay pinatay habang pau­wi sa kanilang lugar noong Sabado ng gabi sa bayan ng Al-Barka. Isang driver ng tricycle si Nitih, ayon sa MILF.

Walang umako sa ata­ke, ngunit humingi naman ng tulong sa MILF ang mga kaanak at pamil­ya ni Nitih dahil may hinala silang mga sundalo ang tumira sa biktima.

“Relatives who buried Najim late last night believed that the Marines who fired upon and killed the innocent victim,” ani pa ng MILF.

Hindi naman nagbi­gay ng pahayag ang militar ukol sa bintang.
Noong nakaraang taon ay tinambangan din ng mga armado si Al-Barka town Mayor Karam Ja­kilan at napatay ito kasama ang dalawang bodyguards habang pauwi rin sa kanyang lugar.

Ang Al-Barka ay kilalang kuta ng MILF na kung saan ay 14 na sundalo ang nasawi, 10 sa mga ito ang pinugutan ng ulo sa isang labanan na naganap noong July 2007.

Kasalukuyang may peace talks ang pamahalaang Arroyo sa MILF na nakikibaka para sa sariling estado sa Mindanao.


Soldiers learn ways of waging peace
By Ryan Rosauro
Philippine Daily Inquirer – www.inquirer.net
Monday, February 01, 2010

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines—Raising placards and shouting calls for government action, a handful of people picketed outside a town mayor’s office to oppose the entry of soldiers into a hinterland village where a peasant leader was earlier killed.

Soldiers could be involved in the killing, the victim’s son believes. The military, meanwhile, suspects that his peasant organization is being used by communist rebels to infiltrate the village.

Nothing conclusive was established about these perceptions which factored heavily in how the situation was considered and, hence, got muddled up.

It was a role playing exercise for 20 junior officers of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division and three officers of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in northern Mindanao who took the Operation Peace Course (OP Kors!) late last year.

Conducted by the nongovernment Balay Mindanaw International Center for Peace, OP Kors! aims to popularize peace-building among different sectors and deepen initiatives for peace in Mindanao.

According to course director Leonardo Bautista, effective peace-building work requires the ability to also see things from the standpoint of other people so as to understand why they act or think the way they do.

“Solving a conflict entails that people should try to look at the issue from different perspectives,” said Saturnina Rodil, professor at Mindanao State University’s Institute for Peace and Development in Mindanao (IPDM).

Rodil emphasized that a peace-builder must imbibe this attitude—which is developed by learning—to view the world beyond the prism of what one has been accustomed to and through many lenses.

Soldiers are trained to respond to conflict in a distinctly different way than peace advocates. But by embarking on peace-building work, they must cast aside several approaches they have been conditioned to take, like fighting and achieving superiority of force, Rodil explained.

Bautista observed that owing to their respective mandates and organizational size, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the PNP are “very big reserves of human resource” for managing conflicts in their areas of assignment before things get worse.

‘Winning the people’

The AFP’s Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) has been training its soldiers to become conflict managers since 2006, targeting 150 brigade and battalion commanders and executive officers, and 300 junior officers to learn the ropes of conflict management and peace-building.

Eastmincom faces the challenge of dealing with the communist insurgency in the Caraga and southern Mindanao, and the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which keeps community strongholds in North Cotabato, Maguindanao and Sarangani.

By empowering soldiers to pursue peace-building initiatives, the command hopes to help the AFP develop more viable strategies for “winning the war by winning the people,” said Col. Julieto Ando, the unit’s chief for civil-military operations.

“Hindi palaging utak pulbura lahat. It is better to build than to destroy,” said Ando, who rose from the ranks and has been in military service for 36 years.

Soldiers, he said, must help build consensus on a shared future for the people in the communities.

Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, Eastmincom commanding general, stressed that “apart from clearing the villages of insurgents, it is important to gain the trust of the people.”

The best measure of winning the people is reflected in whether “the community celebrates with us when we win,” he said.

Primacy of dialogue

OP Kors! graduates are expected to be knowledgeable about human rights and the international humanitarian law, including how these instruments interact with the duties of the state’s security forces.

They are also familiar with the concept of human security, which is a comparatively broader and inclusive notion than the state-centered idea of national security to which current military and related policies are largely based.

In the course, they are introduced to the various avenues of peace-building work under the National Peace Plan.

For soldiers, playing an active role in pushing multisectoral initiatives for community development defines the new “battlefield.” The core outcome is for OP Kors! cadres to confidently apply the essentials of analyzing and dealing with conflicts, most especially doing dialogue.

They are equipped with a general view of historical underpinnings of Mindanao’s myriad conflicts, principally unresolved land claims.

Conditions persist

Given the “complex character” of the conflicts, Ferrer acknowledged that “there is no clear end to the insurgency in the next five years; it will only subside.”

“The social conditions that make them (insurgents) thrive persist. Many villages still have no roads, no schools—situations that suggest absence or lack of presence of government,” Ferrer noted.

“The military cannot resolve conflict; it will need political solution, [which, in turn, needs] political will,” he added.

Ferrer explained that the conflicts “can only be managed from getting worse and becoming unnecessarily violent.”

As an example, Ando pointed to the flare-up of clan wars in villages in central Mindanao. If left unattended, this may spread to other communities and drag MILF combatants into the scene—which can unduly spur AFP action.

Professional soldiers make credible conflict managers, Ferrer said, and forming their corps would require confronting the lingering negative image associated with men in uniform.

He cited stories of abuses, such as “military checkpoints serving as extortion points.”

Ferrer noted the social animosity created by the counterinsurgency approaches adopted decades ago, such as unleashing anticommunist and anti-Moro cultists and vigilantes. These have altered the meaning of the war and the way it was being waged, distant from the political goals of involved parties.

A hangover of this era could be the reason the presence of soldiers still invites fear among many people. In some areas, especially in MILF-influenced communities, the military is seen as an occupying force.

“You cannot transform an organization by issuing directives every day. It needs reorientation; deliberate efforts, not reactive initiatives,” Ferrer pointed out.

“How the military becomes part of the solution is the leadership challenge,” he added.

Modernizing the mindset

“We don’t appear weak if we undergo the course,” quipped Ando. It was a swipe at the generally macho culture of the defense establishment that is partly fueling militarist thinking in dealing with social conflicts.

“We become a peace-builder and a responsible fighter. If we know that we are on the right track, the more we become skillful in conducting operations,” he added.

Integrating peace-building approaches into the modern mind-set of the soldier will need vital reforms in the policy environment of the defense establishment.

For one, Ando cited redefining victory beyond enemy casualties, weapons captured and surrendered, and villages cleared of insurgent influence.

This will also trigger reform toward a “balanced scorecard” as the basis of giving merit for military service. “Insurgency prevention, human development and nation-building” are also equally rewarded.

The prospect of engaging in a far different arena but for a similar objective is firing up the 15th batch of OP Kors! cadres. By putting primacy on the people’s interest, Supt. Herbert Olavides said the work of a peace-builder “is the true picture of being a public servant.”


Public right to info so near, yet so far
Congress panel OKs measure
By Michael Lim Ubac, Christine Avendaño
Philippine Daily Inquirer – www.inquirer.net
Monday, February 1, 2010

MANILA, Philippines—A bicameral conference has approved the proposed Freedom of Information Act, moving a step closer to an enabling law that gives flesh to the rights of citizens to have easy access to information held by the government.

The public right to information was enshrined in the Constitution 23 years ago.

All bicam members—three senators and eight members of the House of Representatives—signed the reconciled version of the bill late Friday.

Quezon Rep. Lorenzo “Erin” R. Tañada III, chair of the House committee on human rights, Sunday said the bicam report should be ready for ratification by both chambers Monday afternoon.

Congress has only three session days left before it takes a three-month break for the election campaign.

Tañada said he “has high expectations that both the Senate and the House will deliver a piece of legislation that has been enshrined in the Constitution but has been wanting of an enabling law—the right of citizens to access to information on matters of public concern.”

Contrary to Senate Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri’s claim, Tañada said all House members of the bicam panel had signed the reconciled version as of Friday.

Zubiri Sunday said he was told by the Senate secretariat that the bicam report still needed the signature of three to four congressmen.

Zubiri, who said that senators were supportive of the measure, appealed to the House members “not to sabotage the bill.”

The House members of the bicam panel are Representatives Bienvenido Abante Jr. of Manila, Tañada, Eduardo Zialcita of Parañaque, Rodolfo Antonino of Nueva Ecija, Emmanuel Joel Villanueva and Cinchona Cruz Gonzales of the party-list group Cibac, Jesus Crispin Remulla of Cavite, and Rodante Marcoleta of the party-list group Alagad.

Their Senate counterparts are Zubiri and Senators Alan Peter and Pia Cayetano.

Tañada said Abante, chair of the House panel, had directed the committee secretariat to transmit the complete copy of the reconciled copy of the proposed law with the signatures of the eight House members to the Senate.

Speaker Prospero Nograles has identified the proposed Freedom of Information Act as among his priority measures when he took over the helm as Speaker, according to Tañada.

“It is incumbent upon him to now ensure its ratification. As a matter of course, both the House and the Senate should act on any bicam report that is already submitted. After that, the ball shifts to Malacañang,” added Tañada, who chaired the technical working group and shepherded the bill’s passage in the House.

House Bill No. 3732 was passed on May 12, 2008, while its counterpart version, Senate Bill No. 3308, was approved only in December last year.

If signed into law, the proposed act will make available to the people all public records in print, sound or visual form.

Corruption

The bill seeks to mandate all government agencies to upload all contracts or transactions on the Web, prompting Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, principal author of SB 3308, to say that this would lessen corruption endemic in the bureaucracy.

“Corruption is one of the country’s biggest problems and challenges. Many lose hope not because corruption remains hidden but because despite knowing the instances of graft few, if any, get prosecuted,” said Cayetano, chair of the Senate committee on public information and mass media.

He said one reason for this was the lack of a paper trail and difficulty of producing evidence enough for conviction.

“Even the more experienced graft investigators and investigative journalists most of the time produce bits and pieces of evidence,” he said.

Game-changer

Cayetano, a lawyer, said the new law could be a game-changer.

“A paradigm shift fought for by the advocates for transparency and accountability, (the new law) will empower all Filipinos to be graft busters, or Sherlock Holmes’ assistants!” he said.

The act provides that the paper trail be easily accessible in all government agencies and criminal prosecution for those who refuse the release of data or information, he said.

Mandatory posting on Web

Cayetano said the new law would further encourage people to be involved in mandatory posting on the Web of items most associated with graft, like the procurement of contracts and the waiver of rights.

“The law will also further strengthen the Philippine media by empowering and boosting research into government dealings,” the senator said.

The Access to Information Network, an alliance of organizations advocating full enjoyment of the people’s right to information, hailed the impending passage of the bill.

“At stake, too, at this crucial juncture is the country’s strategic future, given the critical role of public access to information in combating corruption that has weighed down development, as well as its role in securing meaningful public participation to facilitate effective and responsive government policies,” the group said.

The act mandates government agencies to make available to the public “scrutiny, copying and reproduction, all information pertaining to official acts, transactions as well as government research data used as basis for policy development regardless of their physical form or format in which they are contained and by whom they were made.”

Full public disclosure

Besides upholding the right of the people to information, the proposed law promotes the state policy of “full public disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest” as enshrined in Article II, Section 28 of the Constitution (Declaration of Principles and State Policies) and Article 3, Section 7 (Bill of Rights).

If the government agency decides to deny any request for information, in whole or in part, it shall within seven days from the receipt of the request, notify the person making the request of such denial in writing or through electronic means.

Denial of access to information shall be appealable to the agency concerned 15 days from the notice of denial, but the Office of the Ombudsman can be asked to resolve the appeal in 60 days.

Penalty, exceptions

A penalty of imprisonment of one to six months, not less than one month but not more than six months awaits those who would violate the proposed legislation.

The bill sets out clearly defined and reasonable exceptions, including matters dealing with national defense and security, ongoing foreign affairs negotiations, trade secrets, drafts of executive orders and personal information.

Access to information may be denied on the following grounds:

• When the information is specifically authorized to be kept secret under guidelines established by an executive order.

• The information requested pertains to internal and external defense and law enforcement, when the revelation thereof would render a legitimate military or police station ineffective, unduly compromise the prevention, detection or suppression of a criminal activity, or endanger the life or physical safety of confidential or protected sources or witnesses, law enforcement and military personnel or their immediate families.

• The information requested pertains to the personal information of a natural person other than the requesting party and its disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of his or her personal privacy.

• The information requested pertains to trade, industrial, financial or commercial secrets of a natural or juridical person other than the requesting party.

• The information is privileged from production in legal proceedings by law or by the rules of court unless the person entitled to the privilege has waived it.

• The information requested is exempted by law or the Constitution.

• The information requested is obtained by any committee of either the Senate or the House in executive session.

• The information requested consists of drafts of decisions by any executive, administrative, judicial or quasi-judicial body in the exercise of their adjudicatory functions whenever their revelation would reasonably tend to impair the impartiality of verdicts or obstruct the administration of justice.

Safeguards

To safeguard against government abuse of these exceptions, the proposed law said an agency should specify the public interest sought to be protected by the nondisclosure of information.

Second, there is a legal presumption in favor of access to information.

Third, requesters have the opportunity to show that the public interest in the disclosure outweighs the harm to the public interest sought to be prevented by the exceptions.

Fourth, any public officer or employee claiming an exception under the act faces criminal liability if it is shown that the claim is manifestly devoid of factual basis. With a report from Juan V. Sarmiento Jr.