Wednesday, October 15, 2008 Forum on political violence, extra-judicial killings held By Sly Quintos
This was what Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor told journalism and mass communication students and Baguio-based journalists Tuesday in a forum on political violence and extra-judicial killings held at the University of Baguio.
The forum was a joint undertaking by the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club (BCBC), the National Press Club (NPC) and the University of Baguio as part of the BCBC's 50th anniversary activities.
While Blancaflor lamented the political violence and extra-judicial killings which shook the country in recent years and drew attention from international human rights advocates and organizations, he highlighted the gains and significant achievements that the Task Force Against Political Violence, also known as Task Force 211, chalked since its inception less than a year ago.
Also present during the forum was hard-hitting broadcaster Rolly Gonzalo, the NPC's current vice president, who talked about the club's containing program to alleviate the plight of the country's media practitioners in the face of mounting violence against journalists and the curtailment of freedom of the press.
Task Force Against Political Violence was created in November last year by virtue of Administrative Order (AO) 211 "to harness and mobilize government officials, 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 opposed to violence and for the advancement of reconciliation and peace."
The Task Force is composed of the Department of Justice, the Department of National Defense, the Department of Interior and Local Government, the Office of the National Security Adviser, the Office of the Political Adviser, Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process, the Presidential Human Rights Committee and the Philippine Information Agency.
