Civil society groups launch project to monitor AFP’s IPSP-Bayanihan

MANILA, Philippines—A group of civil society organizations on Tuesday launched a project that aims to support and monitor the military’s Internal Peace and Security Plan-Bayanihan.

Dubbed as Bantay Bayanihan, this project was spearheaded by Ateneo de Manila University’s (ADMU) Working Group on Security Sector Reform (SSR) and in partnership with the Philippine Coalition on International Criminal Court, InciteGov, Philippine Council on Islam and Democracy.

According to Dr. Jennifer Santiago Oreta of the ADMU Department of Political Science-SSR, the project aims to create a dialogue space where civil society groups, members of the academe and civilian government units and the Armed Forces of the Philippines can discuss the implementation of the IPSP-Bayanihan.

The main focus is to provide an avenue wherein internal peace and security, human rights and international humanitarian laws and other related concerns related to the IPSP-Bayanihan may be discussed, Oreta said.

The project also aims to conduct periodic evaluations and/or validate evaluation studied and provide recommendations to the military’s chief of staff and commanding generals on the implementation of the IPSP-Bayanihan, she added.

The AFP launched IPSP-Bayanihan late 2010 and capitalizes on “non-combat” operations in order to “win the peace.”

“It was indeed a paradigm shift, instead of looking at the gains in battle, we are now counting profits, measuring them through parameters of peace,” AFP chief of staff General Eduardo Oban said in his speech during the formal launch of the project in Pasig City on Tuesday.

“We welcome this Bantay Bayanihan since it gives the opportunity to work even better and together in order to preserve the gain and sustain the momentum that we’ve had,” Oban said.