OPENING PRAYERS NATIONAL ANTHEM WELCOME REMARKS Brigadier General Teofilo Pilando ,**..'l ^1 Jfry- t- , -J !I Deputy Executive Secretary On behalf of Executive Secretary and Chairperson of the Presidential Human Rights Committee Paqulto Ochoa Jr., I welcome you to the Second National Summit on lnternational Humanitarian Law I wish to congratulate the government and non-government agencies that have partnered with the Presidential year. Our accession to the Rome Statue further boosted Coalition for the lnternational Criminal Court and the Executive Order No. 134 Ad Hoc Committee on IHL an earlier adoption in March 2010 by the Philippine government of the Philippine National Action Plan in relation to the UN Security Council Resolutions l-325 and 1820 on the protection of women's rights in led by the Department of National Defense. situations of armed conflict The National Summit is the Presidential Human Rights Committees major contribution to this yea/s observance of the National Human Rights Consciousness WeeK spearheaded by the Commission on Human Rights. We are honored to Not to be outdone, the Armed Forces of the Philippine issued its 2011-2016 lnternal Peace and Security Human Rights Committee in organizing this summitthe Commission on Human Rights, the Philippine hosi this eveni because it highlights and places great value on strong and productive discourse between government and human rights defenders to identi! and collectively resolve criiical issues. Moreover it situates human rights and international humanitarian law within the same breath as the promotion and Plan Bayanihan, that underscores zero tolerance for human rights and IHL violations as iis guiding principle. Finally in the arena of peace process, we have that milestone in the negotiations between the Philippine government and the Moro lslamic Liberation Front, the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) which was signed on August 16 this year. Last November 8, we witnessed the signing protection of our peoples overall welfare and wellbeing, especially in situations of armed conflicl of the terms of reference that rendered operational, the Philippine governments complaints monitoring working group under the Philippine government Developments that manifest our countty's adherence to international humanitarian law have been noted since monitoring commlttee that will further enhance compliance with the comprehensive agreement on respect for human rights and international the First National Summit which was held in August 2009. Four months after that event we had Republic Act 9851 in place, which defines and penalizes war humanitarian law between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front Moreover, almost 3 weeks ago on November 22, President Aquino crimes, crimes aqainst humanity and genocide. Under ihe administration of President Aquino, we leaped foruvard in our IHL advocacy, with our ratification of the ordered the creation of special teams to investigate human rights abuses by state and non-state forces and to ensure a focused probe and speedy resolution Rome Statute on lnternational Criminal Law in Augusf of all unsolved 2011 and its enforcement in November of the same Order No. 9365. and new proceedings of the Second National Summit on lnternational Humanitarian Law in the cases under Administrative Philippines LL December 2012 tr