Rod of Correction – member organizations say BGYEA rally only the beginning

Luke Palacio

The rally on Saturday was held just two days after the formation of a group called the Rod of Correction, or ROC. BGYEA is a part of that group, along with the unions and other organizations. The turnout at the rally wasn’t huge in terms of numbers, but that might have been asking too much of the infant ROC. It was significant in terms of organizations represented, and those we spoke to confirmed that this is only the beginning.

Luke Palacio, President, Belize National Teachers Union

“We are galvanizing, we are getting all of the unions, the civil society organizations to come together to address national issues. These include those issues we have mentioned before…we’ve mentioned for example the matter of the passport scandal, we’ve mentioned the issue of the thirteenth senator, we’ve spoken about the Integrity Commissioner, so all of those things. And then now when these issues are happening…when our brothers in BGYEA, when our brothers and sisters in SATIIM are being treated unjustly, we need to lend a voice because we are a part of civil society.”

Cristina Coc

Cristina Coc, Maya Leaders Alliance

“The Maya Leaders Alliance and the Toledo Alcaldes Association are quite encouraged to see that civil society has taken on a more prominent role in defending justice, in bringing the government to its heels and being able to show them that we’re not going to just sit around and watch…we’re not going to watch you oppress the Belizeans of this country.”

Wil Maheia, Belize Territorial Volunteers

Wil Maheia

“Just like we hold the government accountable, we have to hold the people in those organizations responsible. This should not be like one of those organizations which is born, and then when government charges they disappear. We have seen that year in and year out so the Belizean people are actually the ones who have to hold not only the government in check but also these organizations that pop up every so often.”

Reporter

“Could you give us an indication of what lies ahead for ROC?”

Luke Palacio

“This is the first outing of ROC. There are a number of things that we will have to sit down now. Because when we conceived of the idea we already had a concept of what the national issues are…the issue now is how we flesh out and get the details as to how we will address those. So yes you will be seeing more of ROC. There will be subsequent meetings and we will be keeping you up to date.”