DILG empowers women, children via rights program

Secretary Ronnie Puno of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has called on local chief executives to support the department’s training initiatives on the barangay human rights program, which seeks to empower vulnerable sectors like women and children in pursuing justice through heightened awareness about their basic rights and the country’s judicial system.

In a memorandum circular, Puno said the training also aims to enhance the proficiency of barangay officials particularly the member of the Lupon Tagapamayapa “in performing their mandated tasks and responsibilities towards good local governance.”

The training on human rights at the barangay level, Puno noted, is being conducted to ensure the smooth implementation of the department’s Local Government Human Rights Program, which is designed to ensure the accountability of local authorities in the protection and promotion of human rights in their respective localities.

The Local Government Human Rights Program is a flagship initiative of the DILG on Puno’s watch.

Puno said the Department’s training arm, the Local Government Academy, and the various DILG regional offices will conduct the training with the central theme “The Barangay Human Rights Program: Accessing Justice through Gender-Responsive and Child-Friendly Barangay Justice System” in the country’s capital towns and cities.

“(The training) is designed to provide necessary tools and practices in the administration of the Barangay Justice System to enable the poor, particularly women and children, to pursue justice through increased knowledge about basic rights and the judicial system,” the DILG and concurrent National Police Commission chairman said in his circular.

To carry out this initiative, Puno said teams of DILG trainers have been organized in all capital towns and cities in every region to spearhead the training, which will be conducted in partnership with other stakeholders in the locality.

Earlier, he ordered the speedy implementation of another human rights project – the Access to Justice for the Poor (AJP) – that the DILG is carrying out in partnership with the Supreme Court (SC).

The DILG and the SC recently forged a memorandum of agreement (MoA) to carry out the AJP project, which involves informing the poor on their rights under the judicial system by setting up legal information desks in the local government units (LGUs) at the provincial, municipal and barangay levels.

The AJP project covers 36 municipalities in five of the country’s poorest provinces – Oriental Mindoro, Camarines Sur, Capiz, Lanao del Norte and Sultan Kudarat.

One of the roles of the DILG under the project is the establishment of the Access to Justice Network (AJN) at the local government level.

The AJN, as defined in the MoA, is a multi-stakeholder network of service providers in the provincial, municipal and barangay levels whose main function is “information dissemination, limited policy making/policy advocacy, continuing education, and a venue for discussion of issues related to access to justice by the poor, particularly women and children subject to the constitutional limitation on the separation of powers safeguarding the independence and integrity of the judiciary.”

Under the agreement, the DILG committed to call on local chief executives, the Philippine National Police and its own field offices to integrate the AJN in the structure and mechanisms of LGUs.

Under the MoA, the DILG is tasked to disseminate information on the Katarungang Pambarangay law; delineation of rules and operational guidelines for local executives and local government operations officers; laws on women and children; and other access to justice related data.

For its part, the SC, under the MoA, will authorize judges as resource persons on laws on women and children for court procedural matters in the AJN’s education and municipal court information officers (MCIOs) training activities.

MCIOs will also be authorized by the high court to disseminate information on relevant court issuances; the latest jurisprudence and Rules of Court affecting women and children and the access to justice of the poor; and updates on pro-poor activities of the high tribunal.

Under the MoA, the SC has also agreed to refer litigants to appropriate partner agencies for assistance; compile a roster of trained judges and MCIOs and those trained by the Philippine Judicial Academy for dispatch to AJN training activities; and participate in AJN meetings. –Daily Tribune