Palawan First Province To Accept Challenge Of ‘Access To Justice Network’ By EU-Philippines
The EU-Philippines Justice Support Program (EPJUST II) “to promote equitable access to justice and its efficient enforcement for all poor and disadvantage citizens,” turned over Thursday in this city and the province of Palawan the “Access to Justice Network” (AJN) initiative in close partnership with the provincial government and Muslim-Filipino groups.
AJN was launched through a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on Aug. 8, 2015, as an enterprise to provide Muslim-Filipinos the ability to take up legal issues through access to referral pathways, harmonize justice delivery instruments to guarantee fair dispensing in communities, chiefly to impoverished residents. Lawyer Jose Ma. Mendoza, senior access to justice expert of the EPJUST-II, said Thursday that Palawan is the first-pilot area in the Philippines for AJN, which will be established initially in 10 barangays, such as Puerto Princesa, Taytay, and Bataraza among others.
The primary beneficiaries of the AJN are the poor or vulnerable – walk-in clients with legal concerns, and women and children, vulnerable groups like farmers and indigenous peoples, elderly, Muslim-Filipinos, and people with disability.
The preparation and training of around 50 facilitators for the purpose is on-going and will conclude within the week, he said, to start the ball rolling on the initiative to gain access to justice for marginalized residents. “In behalf of the EPJUST Programme, we are thankful to everyone, to our partners because this moment is important since the preparation and training of what we call our AJN facilitators is about to conclude so they can be based in the barangays to be able to deliver the basic right of access to justice of every Filipino,” Mendoza said.
In his presentation, Mendoza said that in 2008, the Social Weather Station (SWS) carried out a survey that came out with the significant result that claimed 48 per cent of respondents said “justice is practically inaccessible for Filipinos. Twenty six per cent believed it is only a bit accessible; 13 per cent said it is fairly accessible; and 13 per cent said it’s accessible. “I would think that if there will be an update this 2015, the data will not be that far from the response of 2008,” he said. “The survey also showed “marginalized individuals, especially the poor and vulnerable members of the society, including those in remote communities, are unaware of their basic human rights and legal rights, and the legal services that are available.” The finding is significant, he added, because the right to access to justice is in the Constitution of the Philippines, but the marginalized are not aware of them, and it recognizes the fact that there are services in the government that can be availed but not all are acquainted with them.
The AJN, according to a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report is “the ability to seek and obtain remedy through formal and informal institutions of justice in conformity with human rights standards.” “Let us not forget we have informal methods that are available to obtain justice, like the council of elders or lupon in the barangay, and other approaches to achieve justice that do need to present us to longer court hearings,” Mendoza said.
AJN will work to provide a referral system to concerned agencies; assist in tracking and monitoring cases to prevent them from stagnating due to lack of follow up; provide basic legal assistance or facilitation through affidavit-making or case analysis. Legal education every once in a while; provide legal information and eventually, centers, where people can access legal services; link with significant security and justice system; and provide facilitators, who are also from the barangays; and cases management.
Mendoza said most cases that do not see solutions in Palawan per their simple surveys are about land, domestic issues, personal loans or business-related, and issues on drugs. AJN Palawan is the first pilot site in the country, and Mendoza thinks Palaweños should be proud that their province is the chief province to accept the challenge; that it is unique as implementation is province-wide; and an exceptional province since it paved way for focus on Muslim-Filipino communities.
The 10 barangays that were chosen as pilot areas for AJN were because they have significant number of Muslim residents. Mendoza said eventually, more access centers can be set up to cover all more than 400 barangays in the province. Despite this, he said it is important for all Palaweños to know that access to justice will be provided to them no matter who they are. We need to point out that according to the facilitators, and although many of them are Muslims, they also want to serve other people in the barangays, who are non-Muslims,” he added.
The Access to Justice Network (AJN) is an initiative of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF), EU-Philippines Justice Support Programme II (EP JUST II), the Province of Palawan and the United Muslim Communities in Palawan for Peace and Progress (UMCPP).
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