Peacekeeping in Minglanilla town

Minglanilla town in Cebu is needing some good words however little it may be. This comes from private citizens. So I hope the municipal public information officer (PIO), if we have one in our local government unit (LGU) would see the need for this if only to give us a little pride in what we are doing as Minglanilla residents.

I hope this will prod a drumbeating of the other good projects that the municipal LGU and private groups are doing to slowly erase the negative impressions (primarily traffic-related) that our town and our officials have built through the years by their callousness and acts of omission.

Here’s the statement:

The Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT) in Minglanilla was organized in March last year. Since then, while some BPAT groups within the municipality have become moribund because of leadership vacuums, the BPAT in Barangay Tungkil has been very active specially in its peacekeeping activities.

It is regularly making patrols in various subdivisions and “puroks.” As a result, petty crimes like mulcting and hold-ups of tricycle passengers have practically disappeared.

Plans are afoot that this motley group of hardworking BPAT members in Brgy. Tungkil would also be used to assist in traffic coordination and management in the other parts of Minglanilla.

The BPAT was conceptualized to function as community-based support in the efforts by the Philippine National Police (PNP) to prevent the commission of crime, resolve conflicts on the spot, and even conduct disaster search and rescue operations.

It helps that Tungkil Barangay Captain Edgar Camota, who is a member of BPAT, is very supportive. The plan to set up BPAT outposts (like the one in the photo above) in strategic parts of the barangay is being implemented. CCTV cameras monitored from the barangay hall will later be installed in these outposts.

Minglanilla is surging ahead.--Victor Seno of the Federation of Decahomes Subdivisions

Preparing for storms

Social media has been abuzz with stories about the supposed supertyphoon that will hit the country. Pagasa has denied this, however. But there is one thing that I think we should do, which is to continue to prepare for storms.

As it is, local government officials only prepare for storms when the said storm is already coming and not, for example, during summer.

Also, there is the saying, “Motulo ra bitaw nang

atop kun mag-uwan.”--Deo Deodato, Cebu City