Important civil society training activities
Gina Lopez was not confirmed by the biased CA. Lopez, however, won the hearts and support of millions of Filipinos who recognize her true worth and genuine service for the country.
Except perhaps for a handful of genuine public servants inside Congress, let us rather depend on our unity and partnership with genuine servants like Gina Lopez, not only to protect the environment but to truly create a society that takes best care of our people and our resources.
We are sure we will hear and see more of Gina Lopez and we look forward to an intensified, sustainable crusade against mining, especially abusive mining and more pro-people, pro-environment partnerships from hereon.
Civil society will continue their advocacy to create an informed citizenry so our people can best protect themselves and our country. Hopefully, a more informed people will demand a transparent, participatory, just and equal society for all.
Last April 24-27, the Philippine Partnership for the Development of Human Resource in Rural Areas (PhilDHRRA) shared that their organization hosted a 4-day trainer's training on social accountability for civil society in Cebu City under the CCCE PAG-PR project. It was attended by CSO and NGO representatives from 27 municipalities from the provinces of Benguet, Camarines Sur, Sorsogon, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Bohol, Zamboanga del Norte, Surigao del Norte, and South Cotabato.
The training aimed to contribute to the effective mobilization of civil society organizations in monitoring government programs and projects addressing poverty. The training focused on social accountability tool development and constructive engagement among social accountability stakeholders, facilitated and managed by ANSA-EAP Learning Team.
Consolidating CSO Networks for Citizen Engagement towards Participatory and Accountable Governance for Poverty Reduction (CCCE PAG-PR) is a three-year project aimed at strengthening the civil society's capacity in mobilizing citizens' demand for transparent, accountable and effective service delivery of local government units in the pursuit of poverty reduction.
Another important training program took place in Cebu last April 25-28 organized by the Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA) in partnership with Kaabag sa Sugbo, Migrants Coordinating Group in Western Visayas and Joint Migration and Development Initiatives Supported by the Netherlands Embassy in Manila, European Union and Swiss Development Cooperation.
Entitled "Strengthening Capacities for Seafarers' and Fishermen's Rights A Training Program for Advocates," the workshop had the following objectives: 1) Increase participants' awareness and knowledge on the realities of overseas employment, particularly for sea-based workers; 2) Acquaint participants with the rights-based gender-sensitive approach to labor migration specifically those in reference to curbing human trafficking and illegal recruitment in the sea-based sector (seafarers and fishermen) and their families; 3) Familiarize participants with the frontline agencies of government on labor migration and their programs and services for OFWs and their families especially for seafarers and fishermen; and 4) Encourage participants to promote and protect the rights of seafarers, fishermen and their families against human traffickers and illegal recruiters through information dissemination, networking, coordination and cooperation.
CMA said the Philippines has some 30 percent of the world's estimated 1.2 million seafarers on board vessels. In 2014, 401,826 seafarers were deployed. This increased to 406,531 in 2015. At the same time, we also have a sizeable number of fishermen on board international vessels – 6,437 fishers were deployed in 2014 and 7,315 in 2015. For 2014 to November 2016, Iloilo and Cebu ranked second and third in terms of the highest deployment of seafarers at 127,224 and 120,172 respectively. For fishers, Iloilo and Negros Occidental topped the list of provinces with 2,250 and 1,662 respectively.
The four-day capacity building training targeted 35 representatives of community-based migrant organizations and support groups from Central and Western Visayas.
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