By Alma B. Sinumlag
BAGUIO CITY — In a
phone interview with the Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance (CPA) Mountain Province,
they announced that a Human Rights defenders group of women was just formed on
July 19, 2012 in the municipality of Sagada with an objective to monitor
violations on human rights and popularize the human rights campaign in the
municipality.
Marcelo Daweg,
chairperson of CPA-MP and District 2 coordinator of Katribu, said that the idea
of having women HR defenders group in Sagada was first suggested by the women
in the said area on March this year during a peace forum which was attended by
Raffy Baylosis of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and
representatives from the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GPh).
Having an HR group for women was deemed necessary at that time in order to
become a Quick Response Team (QRT) when there are human rights violations
(HRVs) especially when it involves women and children, Daweg added.
Katribu Partylist,
Tangguyob Peoples Center and the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP)
facilitated the formation of the group. The formation activity was attended by
24 women from Sagada and one woman observer from Bontoc who is also part of the
Intercommunity training project of the AIPP in empowering indigenous women in
traditional customary institutions. This project is being implemented by the
Cordillera Women’s Education Action Research Center (CWEARC) as the Philippine
partner of AIPP.
The said 24 women
were all conveners of the group. Daweg further said that from the conveners,
women voted for their officers. Josephine Lay-os from Bangaan of Northern
Sagada is the chairperson with Josephine Say-awen of Patay, Poblacion as her
co-chairperson. Also, Annie Sumedka from Barangay Ankileng is the
secretary-general.
The officers and
all the conveners have the responsibility to document HRVs by filling out fact
sheets and formulating affidavits. They shall also lead fact finding missions
(FFM) related to such violations. Part of their responsibility is to popularize
among the indigenous women and the community as a whole the Comprehensive
Agreement on the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law
(CARHIHL).
Daweg further said
that right after the formation of the group, they already planned their
activities on the commemoration of the human rights day on December 10 and the
women’s rights day on March 8 next year. One significant comment from the group
is their appreciation on the formation in order to have a group defending their
human rights because a lot of women in the municipality are not aware of having
such rights.
Jane Faith Coteng,
one of the staff of CWEARC for the said project who was present during the
formation of the group, said that the women were grateful that the group was
organized and given the orientation on human rights.
It is to their
advantage said the women to have a foundation to share and train their
communities on their rights as women and as a people.
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