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.