By Niña Christelle Sumintac, STRATCOM Correspondent

Mariano Marcos State University–College of Law students served as speakers and panelists in two seminars on Katarungang Pambarangay Law (RA 7160) and child and women protection held in the Municipality of Marcos on July 9–10, 2025.

Led by Juris Doctor students under the Clinical Legal Education Program (CLEP), the seminar addressed key legal topics on RA 7160, the Safe Spaces Act (RA 11313), the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004 (RA 9262), and Republic Act No. 11930, which pertains to the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials (CSAEM). 
The student speakers included Johanna May Mata, Fernando Fernandez, Jr., Roman Alejandro Nalupta, Genevieve Luna, Jireh Czarina Toletino, and  Neil Archie Garcia.

On the first day, 13 punong barangay, 13 barangay secretaries, and 39 lupong tagapamayapa members attended the sessions on RA 7160 and RA 11313. The second day covered OSAEC and CSAEM, with participants including 13 punong barangay, 13 SK chairpersons, 13 Barangay Health Worker presidents, and 10 barangay day care workers. 

Representing Marcos Mayor Antonio Mariano, Ms. Vency Maria Raquel, Municipal City Administrator, expressed gratitude to the law students for raising awareness about child and women protection in Marcos. 
“There are laws and policies in place to continuously protect children and women. It is good that these are now rooted at the grassroots level, to ensure that people in the community understand and can implement them properly,” Ms. Raquel told the participants in Ilokano. 

The student speakers were supervised by Atty. Gina Quario-Cardenas and Atty. Kyle Lari Domingo from the Public Attorney’s Office of Dingras, in collaboration with MMSU-COL, and guided by their CLEP professor, Atty. Saniata Marcos-Taclan.

Also helping organize the two-day event were law students Edimar Joshua Friala, Raymart Peralta, Charmaine Ventura, Xennia Fernandez and Alyssa Abdala.

The initiative aimed to strengthen the capacity of barangay officials and frontline workers in protecting children and women from abuse, exploitation, and violence, in line with national and local mandates for grassroots governance and community safety.

📸 MMSU College of Law