Deles lauds reforms in the PH security sector

Posted on Monday, 12 March, 2012 - 19:07

Manila, Mar. 12 – Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos Deles on Tuesday lauded reforms and transformations in the Philippine security sector achieved through “partnership, dialogue, and multi -stakeholder approach” with civil society groups.
“The innovations and institutional reform efforts in the security sector that we are seeing today is something we must take notice of, truly affirm, and support,” Deles conveyed in her message during the launch of the Security Sector Reform (SSR) handbook entitled “Transformation” held at the Oakwood Premier Joy –Nostalg Center in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

The handbook is a compilation of results of the series of SSR study sessions convened by the International Center for Innovation, Transformation and Excellence in Governance (INCITEGov), a civil society group which Deles joined in 2006.

While she was in the civil society sector in 2007, Deles convened a study group to orient and develop the capacity of civil society and related sectors to engage in the public discourse on the broad SSR framework focused on the Democratic Control of the Armed Forces. The initiative was supported by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).

In her message, Deles also mentioned the civil society-led Bantay Bayanihan (BB) that was launched in November last year. BB aims to institutionalize the participation of civil society and relevant agencies in the implementation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP), otherwise known as Oplan Bayanihan.

“As far as the security sector reforms instituted by the AFP are concerned, partnerships and multi-stakeholder cooperation on a shared vision are at work. This is a huge transformation and a milestone for Philippine democracy,” she pointed out.
AFP Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Jessie Dellosa, in his solidarity message read on his behalf by Brigadier General Romeo Calizo of AFP J3, said that “We in AFP have been relentlessly pursuing our own security sector reform. We in AFP under the IPSP Bayanihan shall adhere to democratic principles of transparency and accountability.”

“We shall also enhance understanding and appreciation of our troops on SSR, skills on conflict resolution, peace-building, good governance, and resource management…and strict adherence to human rights,” he stated.

“With so many tasks ahead of us, we in AFP will remain grateful in the involvement of stakeholders,” Dellosa said, adding that several NGOs and CSOs have been their dialogue partners in BB.

Deles underscored that in moving forward, “Like other reform issues, Security Sector Reform needs a broad public constituency to push it and to defend it.”
“Especially since our focus is on developing democratic control of armed forces, the call is to make ordinary citizens understand that what happens in the security sector will have an effect on their lives,” she added.

Melito Salazar, a member of INCITEGov’s Board of Trustees, related that “there’s so much lack of understanding on the security sector. In this view, we hope that the SSR reader can help in educating on the sector.”

Also present in the launch were BGen. Romeo Calizo of AFP J3; National Security Council Deputy Director General RAdm. Vicente Agdamag (Ret.); Augustus E. Cerdena, program coordinator of FES Philippines; Hans Born, senior fellow of Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces; and Sam Chittick, governance adviser of Australian Agency for International Development.

SSR reader contributors include Dr. Jennifer Santiago Oreta of Ateneo de Manila University Department of Political Science - Working Group on SSR; Maxine Tanya Hamada, executive director of INCITEGov; Paola Margarita Deles, deputy director of INCITEGov; aCmdr. Carlos Agustin of SUDECO-Subic West; BGen Galileo Kintanar, chair and president of Sultan's General Consultancy; and Ryan Mark Sullivan, among others. #

OPPAP Website - GPH
http://www.opapp.gov.ph/

links:

http://www.opapp.gov.ph/news/deles-lauds-reforms-ph-security-sector

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