One hundred twenty-five (125) forest guards. Three (3)-day training on values clarification and democracy and government processes. Peace Program Officer Ernesto Estonilo and Unit Director Bradley Fenomeno of Malacañang’s Office of Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) visited and met June 11 with Vice-President for Academics Fr. Jorge Peligro, OAR, and University Community Development Office (UCDO) Supervisor Mely Flores to establish partnership with University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos (UNO-R) for the training of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)’s forest guards. OPAPP proposed to UNO-R to provide 6 trainer-volunteers coming from its faculty who would undergo workshop-seminar and afterwards conduct the training. A memorandum of agreement would be signed by both parties to formalize the training partnership. The training, which is under the KMRC (Knowledge Management and Resource Center) Unit of OPAPP, is geared toward the integration of former dissidents to the formal institution of the government like DENR and ultimately into the mainstream of society. As a Catholic university, UNO-R supports people building endeavors like trainings in order to enhance environmental stewardship through the forest guards as well as to promote peace and development in the Philippine society. In 2011, through UCDO, UNO-R being considered a neutral party had already been a partner of OPAPP in profiling RPA-ABB members who were applying for government amnesty.
by: UCDO