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| The participants of the Leyte Bantay Bayanihan Forum held at the 19th Infantry Battalion camp in Brgy. Aguiting, Kananga, Leyte on April 14, 2015. |
Leyte-Bantay Bayanihan holds forum at Army camp in Leyte
By 19th Infantry Battalion, 8ID PA
April 16, 2015
KANANGA, Leyte – A
civil society-led initiative that aims to create an oversight body
over the armed forces, including defense and security policies, holds
its quarterly meeting here on Tuesday, April 14, 2015.
The Leyte-Bantay Bayanihan,
which was successfully launched at the Visayas State University (VSU)
in Baybay City, June 23 last year, facilitated its forum inside 19th
Infantry Battalion’s camp for the first time.
The forum, dubbed as the
“Security Sector-Leyte BB Team Building Activity and Dialogue” was
conducted to pursue partnership with the security sector, particularly
the AFP and to evaluate its implementation of the Internal Peace and
Security Plan (IPSP) “Bayanihan”.
During the forum, Lt. Col.
Nedy Espulgar and Lt. Col. Allan Jose Taguba, battalion commanders of
19IB and 78IB, respectively, presented the “bayanihan” accomplishment
of their units for the first quarter of calendar year 2015.
It was learned that nine out
of 37 municipalities in the province of Leyte were already declared
insurgency-free. The said towns are Matag-ob, Merida, Palompon,
Matalom, Bato, Inopacan, Dulag, Tabon-tabon, and Tabango. Efforts are
already being made to declare other towns as well as cities as
insurgency-free.
In his message, Col. Dinoh
Dolina, commander of the 802nd Infantry Brigade stated that the
military is now giving more emphasis on resolving the root causes of
insurgency. This can be manifested in the military’s various peace and
development initiatives, especially in far flung barangays which are
barely reached by the services of the local government.
“As catalyzers, we tried to
fill the gaps between the communities and the government”, he
stressed. Col. Dolina likewise vowed to fully support the Leyte-Bantay
Bayanihan and its initiatives.
The forum also includes
conflict resolution workshops which Col. Dolina himself and his two
battalion commanders has ably participated in.
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Other participants of the
activity were Ms. Imelda Bonifacio, area manager of the Office of the
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), and representatives
from Civil Society Organizations and media networks from Ormoc and
Tacloban City.
In her presentation, Ms.
Gina Ragudo, the LBB convenor discussed that the core objective of
Bantay Bayanihan is to reform the security sector institutions so that
they are transparent, respectful of the Rule of Law, Human Rights and
International Humanitarian Law, and accountable to democratic civilian
authority.
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news credit to SamarNews.com. See original article here
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