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Media and Law Schools Join Crusade to Solve EJK Cases
NPC and Angeles University sign MOA with Task Force 211
The National Press Club signed on Monday a Memorandum of
Agreement with Task Force 211, also known as “Task Force
Against Political Violence,” the new government body
tasked to address the issues of political violence and
extra-judicial killings, binding both groups to work
hand-in-hand in monitoring the progress or litigation of
political violence cases.
On February 2, Task Force 211 also signed a similar MOA
with Angeles University Foundation School of Law in
Angeles City, Pampanga.
Task Force 211 Chairman Ricardo R. Blancaflor and
National Press Club President Roy C. Mabasa sealed
Monday’s agreement. Meanwhile, the MOA signing on Feb.2
was led by AUF-School of Law’s Founding Dean Justice
Jose C. Vitug and Defense Undersecretary Alberto E.
Valenzuela, Jr. who came as Blancaflor’s representative.
Both MOA call for media volunteers and law students of
AUF-School of Law to be in partnership with Task Force
211 in monitoring cases involving political violence and
extra-judicial killings (“EJK”) pending before various
prosecutor’s offices and courts nationwide, all in the
interest of transparency.
Under the MOA, accredited volunteers from the media and
law schools shall personally attend the scheduled
hearings of cases being monitored, apprise themselves of
the proceedings, and record the incidents that transpire
in the cases’ respective Monitoring Kits.
For its part, Task Force 211 is under obligation to
share information and documents regarding cases
identified and validated as involving political violence
and/or EJK.
It can be recalled that Task Force 211 first signed a
MOA with Lyceum of the Philippines College of Law on
December 19, 2007. Law students of Lyceum who
volunteered for the program are now monitoring EJK
cases.
“We are calling on everyone concerned about the
situation to contribute pro-actively in this particular
endeavor,” stressed Blancaflor. Believing that a
“whole-society” approach to the problem is the only
solution, the Task Force issued an invitation to various
law schools, NGOs, the media, and even the civil group
Karapatan to assist it to once and for all solve the
problem of human rights violations, especially
extra-judicial killings, unexplained disappearances and
political violence.
Task Force 211 is a Presidential Task Force created
under the virtue of Administrative Order No. 211 dated
November 22, 2007. Its mandate is to “harness and
mobilize government agencies, political groups, the
religious, civil society and sectoral organizations and
the public for the prevention, investigation,
prosecution and punishment of political violence, the
care and protection of people and communities victimized
and threatened with violence, and the promotion of a
culture of opposed to violence and for the advancement
of reconciliation and peace.”
Blancaflor, who is also Undersecretary of the Department
of Justice, lauds the media volunteers and law schools.
“These media volunteers and law schools want to be part
of the solution, not part of the problem. That should
set an example for the rest of us,” he said. |
