Tanods undergo training on security management and conflict transformation

[dispatched tonight at MindaNews]

KOLAMBUGAN, Lanao del Norte (MindaNews/January 12, 2008) – Some 100 future
members of the Civilian Volunteer Organization here finished on Sunday a
3-day training on security management and conflict transformation as part of
this town's integrated rehabilitation plan.

Participants were barangay *tanod *(village guards) and members of barangay
committees on peace and order.

The training came almost five months after a unit of the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front attacked Kolambugan. A number of civilians were killed and
some properties were destroyed in the attack.

But while the training focused on military tactics, it also had inputs on
human rights, history of the Mindanao conflict, and conflict analysis and
culture of peace.

Carino Antequisa of the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development (CAFOD)
discussed basic conflict analysis and culture of peace.

Antequisa defined social conflict as a result of incompatible goals
vis-à-vis scarce rewards.

He also discussed the history of the conflict over land and ownership of
resources in Mindanao in light of the stalled peace process.

Lawyer Jonathan Puno, provincial legal officer of Lanao del Norte emphasized
the prohibition on the deprivation of life, liberty and property without due
process of law.

1Lt Lynbert Abrau, civil-military relations officer of the 35th Infantry
Battalion, shared concepts on intelligence and counter-intelligence
operations at the barangay level. [More at MindaNews]