Lanao CSOs continue the conduct of awareness on community policing

Lanao CSOs continue the conduct of awareness on community policing

by Jun Enriquez

Iligan City (August 30, 2015) – Awareness phase is the second activity conducted by the Civl Society network of the Security Reform Initiative (SRI) in Lanao del Norte and Iligan City. The British Council and SRI are the proponents behind the project. This program will unfold in four waves, the Baseline, Awareness, Consultation and Feedback. Awareness is vital in helping communities get involved in shaping community policing in the Bangsamoro and focus on the basic concept and practices in community policing. This project is funded by the UK Government’s Golden Thread Community Policing Project. SRI as the national secretariat of Bantay Bayanihan(BB) tapped local BB partners for the conduct of the community policing project in six (6) provinces in Mindanao within and contiguous of the Bangsamoro area such as, North Cotabato, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Sulu and Basilan.

 

A ritual conducted by the Datu & Baylan (priest) of Lumad-
Higaonon before the session started in Rogongon.

The Awareness activity is a forum type to bring simple messages across and draw out the community’s aspirations on community policing. It is not the forum to discuss issues and concerns on the police, the peace process, or the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL). It is not about finding the faults but imagining a better situation. It is a venue for the community to envision how they want policing to be done in their community. This will raise awareness in basic concepts and practices in community policing so that they can more substantially contribute their ideas and insights in the next phase, the consultation phase.

The objective of the Awareness phase is to raise awareness in community policing to encourage community involvement and role in shaping and taking part of its own community policing. It is conceptualized to increase the community’s knowledge on community policing. It aims to come up with a strategy and toolkit on community policing in the Bangsamoro. It uses a “bibingka” approach with emphasis that a top-down approach should not be imposed to communities but rather the communities should be on board from the beginning of developing the community policing strategy. Thus, the strategy and toolkit will draw from what the community thinks about community policing and they want to be policed.

 

Participants in Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte

In Lanao del Norte and Iligan City, Awareness phase of the community policing project was implemented by the Bantay Kalilintad (BK), means peace watch, a group of civil society organizations (CSOs), a local Bantay Bayanihan network of SRI identified four selected areas, the municipalities of Munai, Tagoloan, Kolambugan all of Lanao del Norte and Rogongon of Iligan City. Munai and Tagoloan are inclusive in the core territory of the Bangsamoro while the Kolambugan and Rogongon are contiguous to the Bangsamoro. An average of 40 participants per area from multi-sectors including the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Military, attended the session on different schedules within the period of July to August 2015. The participants were asked to answer the questions about what is the role of the police?, what is community?, and what is community policing?

 

Participants in Munai, Lanao del Norte

The participants believed that the role of the police is to enforce the law, in layman understanding is arresting officer, protector of the people, peacekeeper, defender and many others. Their understanding on the community is a group of people with different cultures, belief and religion. Others said that community is a family, organizations with policies. They also understand community policing is a peaceful community with cooperation among the people. It was also believed as a strategy to maintain peace and order.

On another workshop topic, the participants were tasked to give the ideas on the principles of community policing. These are the Service delivery, Problem solving, Empowerment, Accountability and Partnership. Most of the common answers from the participants were interpreted into service oriented, efficient, effective and accountable. In Partnership, the participants identified the Police and community must have good relations, there must be cooperation among the community and the police. In problem solving it was suggested to organize the tribal leaders in different clans; identify, define and understand the problem; prioritize in solving the problem, evaluate and analyze the problem, establish a plan and policies including conflict resolution. 

Lumad majority participants in Rogongon, Iligan City

On the empowerment aspect, there must be capacity building with the community and the police to effectively address the prevailing problem in the community, educate the people and have active participation of tribal leaders. On the Accountability aspect, it must be a strict compliance, every citizen has the responsibility in their respective community, strengthen the police service, police shall be free from technicalities during law enforcement to avoid legal problem. Sultan Saidona Mansumayan, a Barangay Councilor of Rogongon, said that the Lumad-Higaonon, the Indigenous peoples in Rogongon are also have their own traditional laws in settling dispute through dialogues to prevent the escalation of conflict within and outside the tribal communities. He said that this can be a big help on community policing and the Barangay council in conflict resolution when comes to cultural conflict and prevent "rido" or clan feuds.

Participants in Tagoloan, Lanao del Norte

Tina Lomoljo, Executive Director of the Balay Integrated response for Total Human Development (BIRTHDEV), Incorporated,  reminded the participants that community policing is not soft on crime, not another police office, not a technique, not a public relations, not a social work and not miracle solution. The Awareness phase on community policing project was implemented in four communities successfully in the province of Lanao del Norte and Iligan City. With reports and photos by Malyne D. Gungob

Football Festival for Peace launch in Lanao

Football Festival for Peace launch in Lanao

By Jun Enriquez

Tubod, Lanao del Norte (September 20, 2015) - Football is not so much popular in Lanao del Norte, but this year the 15^th Infantry Battalion based in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte organized and spearheaded the soccer football festival for peace for the children with ages under 14 years old but not lower than 8 years old. Lanao del Norte suffered the all-out-wars during the Estrada and Arroyo administrations in 2000 and 2003 respectively, and the armed conflict in 2008 due to the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).

The two-day football for peace event was held September 19 and 20. On the first day the children was briefed on the game and the rules of the tournament include teambuilding workshops and were given t-shirt uniforms in each team. Sports facilitators are coming from the 15^th Infantry Battalion personnel and gave orientation and lecture to players and coaches on football clinic, proper ball control, dribbling, kicking, passing, basic goal keeping and game planning.

The objectives of the tournament is to develop unity, harmony and friendship among the youth under the Area of responsibility (AOR) of the 15^th IB. To develop the character of both out and in school youth through football. To support the “Yes to Sports and No to Drugs” campaign of the government. The purpose football festival is to develop unity, harmony and friendship among the youth to attain peace in the area as part also of the celebration of the month of September as Peace Month under the Proclamation No. 675 also known as National Peace Consciousness Month. This is also one way of supporting the anti-illegal drug campaign in the area since we all know that drug addiction is prevalent in the youth sector thus this activity was conceptualized.

Oath of Sportsmanship

On the second day, the tournament begun with two bracket categories, the open and inter-municipality. There were 11 soccer club teams competing the tournament whose teams coming from the different football clubs in Lanao del Norte including Iligan City. The inter-municipality category have 7 municipalities joined the competition, these are the municipalities of Maigo, Munai, Kauswagan, Poona Piagapo, Bacolod and Tangkal. However, there were 8 teams in the inter-municipality bracket because Kolambugan had two teams joined the tournament.   

The football tournament was supported by the provincial government of Lanao del Norte and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP). The children in Poona Piagapo revealed that soccer football was first time for them to play the game. They only used to play indigenous games like spider fight and rubber band “dampa”. They will picked spider and let them fight in a stick.

During the opening game, Lt. Col. Leomar Jose Doctolero, Battalion Commander of 15^th IB, was represented by Captain Rene M. Belmonte, the Civil Military Officer (CMO) of the 15^th IB, 3^rd Infantry Division, Philippine Army, said in a welcome remarks that the purpose of the tournament is to let the children became responsible citizens as they grow up and train them on soccer football to meet other children from other places of diverse cultures, the Christians,  Muslims and the Lumads become friends. The theme for the tournament is “Developing harmony, unity and friendship among the youth to attain peace through sports”.  The 15^th Infantry Battalion is under the command of the 2^nd Mechanized Infantry “Magbalantay” Brigade headed by Col. Gilbert Gapay, Brigade Commander.

Winners in open category, the champion was the Baroy football team… in the inter-municipality category, the champion was the Kolambugan team B….It was recalled that the Lanao del Norte team became the first runner-up in the national soccer football for peace tournament in camp Aguinaldo early this year, participated by the children football players under 14 years old in conflict affected areas nationwide. Lanao del Norte team was represented by the players from the municipality of Kauswagan.

Inter-Municipality, First Place was Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte of the Diego H. Patigayon National High School, Barangay Mukas, Kolambugan. The 2nd Place was Kolambugan, Lanao Norte, of Geronima Cabrera National High School, Barangay Riverside, Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte. Third Place was Maigo, Lanao del Norte of Maigo National High School, Barangay Poblacion, Maigo, Lanao del Norte.

In the Open Tournament, first Place was Baroy Football Club, Baroy, Lanao del Norte. Second Place was the Kapatagan Football Club, Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte and the third place was Raging Bears of Iligan City.

After the tournament successfully ended, all the participating teams in the inter-municipality of Lanao del Norte were given nine soccer football balls for them to continue practice on said sports. The tournament will continue to be conducted every quarter or twice a year and encourage other municipalities to join the event and give opportunities to some other children to play soccer football. With reports and photos by Malyne D. Gungob.

Lanao CSOs launch baseline activity on community policing project

Lanao CSOs launch baseline activity on community policing project

By Jun Enriquez

Iligan City (July 30, 2015) – Community policing is not so much popular in the country and this type of policing is new to the Filipinos. The community policing in many countries exists such as United Kingdom (UK), Africa, Canada, United States, and many other European countries have implemented community policing which defines transparency and accountability of the police service in the government. Community policing as a model of policing, and the advantages of this model will tap the resources of the community, one that forms a “community partnership” to fight crime. 

Community policing is a method of policing based on the joint effort of the citizen and the police who work together towards alleviating neighborhood problems. In this type of policing, police officers and citizens work together to identify problems and resolve them. The police officer acts as the catalyst, moving the citizens towards solving their own problems and cooperating for common protection.

Sometime in April this year, community policing was first introduced in the Philippines by the British Council through the Golden Thread of the UK to help the future Bangsamoro government in Mindanao to become effective in the police service. The British Council has inked an agreement in Davao City with the civil society, through the Security Reform Initiative (SRI) based in the Ateneo de Manila University, Manila, to implement the community policing project in selected areas in Mindanao, especially in the six provinces within the proposed Bangsamoro territory, these are the Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, North Cotabato, Sulu and Basilan.In every province there are 3-4 municipalities to be selected as model communities and in each municipality will select a model barangay to implement the community policing project orientation with an average of 40 participants per area.

 

Munai Baseline session facilitated by Achmad Musa
with Muslims majority participants. 

The British Council was founded in 1934 and the organization has at least 200 offices in over 100 countries around the world and has operated in the Philippines since 1978. The British Council creates opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries with the aim of building trust and cultural relationships. The Golden Thread Funding is coming from the UK government-Official Development Assistance. The said funding was secured by the British Council towards the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) as articulated in Article 11, Section 11, “The Bangsamoro police shall adopt community policing as the essential mechanism in maintaining peace and order.”The Golden Thread programmes that weave together the values and conditions that lead to a more stable, prosperous and ultimately successful societies.

The SRI is an independent think tank that constructively and critically engages the security sector in pushing for key policy and institutional reforms. Guided by inclusivity and transparency, SRI creates open spaces where practitioners and scholars engage in serious and candid dialogues on security and peace issues. SRI has conducted joint researches with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and has also been entrusted by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) to handle research on the various peace processes and crucial security issues that impact on the peace processes.

 

Lumad majority participants in Rogongon, Iligan City

Community policing has four phases to follow, the baseline, awareness, consultationand feedback. The SRI civil society network has implemented the first two phases were already fully implemented in Lanaodel Norte and Iligan City started in June this year up to the present. The Consultation phase was still on its implementation stage and the Feedback phase still to be implemented.

In Lanaodel Norte, the baseline activity was implemented by the BantayKalilintad (BK) network a partner of the SRI in Lanao del Norte and Iligan City. Members of the BK are Pakigdait, Incorporated, Balay Integrated Rehabilitation for Total Human Development, Inc. (BIRTHDEV), PAILIG Foundation Development, Inc. (PDFI), Institute of Peace and Development in Mindanao (IPDM), Ranao Disaster Response and Rehabilitation Action Center (RDRRAC), Civil Society Organization Forum for peace, Inc. (CSO-FP), PASAKA, Inc., ECOWEB, Inc. and many others. BIRTHDEV, Inc. is the lead organization represented by Tina Lomoljo,Executive Director, to implement the community policing project in Lanaodel Norte and Iligan City.

The Baseline activity was the first phase of the community policing project implemented in three selected Municipalities ofLanao del Norte, such as Munai, Tagoloan and Rogongon, Iligan City. Munai and Tagoloan are part of the core territory of the proposed Bangsamoro and Rogongon is contiguous to the Bangsamoro. The three areas were selected in terms of culture, the Muslim Majority in Munai, the Christian majority in Tagoloan and the Lumad majority in Rogongon. There were common questions answered by the participantsduring the session are as follows: what is safe community? In your opinion what are the security problemsto have safe community? Who has the responsibility?and a follow-up question, in what way they can help to have safe and secure community? The participants in different venues have similar answers but different context due to different geographical areas with respect to culture.

 

Christian majority participants in Inagongan, Tagoloan,
Lanao del Norte

Most of the common answers on safe community shall maintain the peace and order, unity and respect among the peoples, free from criminals, there is presence of police and militaryto have safe community. Most of the identified problems are cattle rustling, carnapping, kidnapping, illegal drugs, killings, “rido” or family feud, unemployment, poverty. The participants are hopeful that all these problems will be resolved by the government through the police and military. The participants believed what they can help to have safe and secure communities is to report any incidence of crime to the public officials, Barangay officials, military and  police and arrest the criminals. In Muslim culture they will report it to the Sultan or BaiAlabi and in the Lumad they will report it to their Datu and Elders. The participants to ask help from the non-government organization (NGOs) and emphasizing the citizens’ arrest. The Baseline phase activities on community policing project was implemented successfully in Lanaodel Norte and Iligan City. With reports and photo by Malyne Gungob.