Carmen Mayor Conchita “Che” Toribio de los Reyes ordered the other night the pull out of four so-called Prosperity Teams scattered in as many barangays in the municipality in what could be a preview of her projected challenge of Gov. Edgar Chatto in next year’s elections. Toribio gave the ultimatum for the pull-out 8 pm Thursday after getting adverse reactions from her people in the field. “The people did not like their line of questioning which was escalating the tension,” the mayor said.

Reports reaching her said the team members asked the residents about their problems and then followed it up with questions on what their barangay kagawads were doing about this. “In the process, the barangay officials were made to look bad which they naturally resented,” she added. The team members were on “stay-in” status, meaning they slept in their respective area of assignment. Four barangays were the initial target area namely Montesuerte, Buenavista, Katipunan and Villaflor. Toribio said she did not want the tensions to escalate further and decided to act promptly before it was too late. “I don’t want any untoward incident,” she stressed. The mayor said what got her goat was that six policemen were assigned to the teams which depleted the already undermanned police force in the town.

“I can see no reason why six of my policemen would be assigned to secure them when there is already a shortage of policemen even before they came,” she added. Toribio did not respond directly to questions that the team members were suspected of “advancing” the political agenda of Gov. Edgar Chatto. The pullout maneuver was seen as the opening salvo of a heart-rending gubernatorial combat in 2013. Fast and furious, the combative mayor ordered the pullout as soon as she learned that the teams touched base in the four barangays that residents interpreted instigated them against the mayor. It was the lady mayor’s first brush with Chatto’s minions after she announced plans to challenge the incumbent Bohol governor. When the teams pulled out at 6 am Friday, Toribio emerged victorious in her first eyeball encounter with Chatto’s people.

 PROSPERITY TEAMS RE-ASSESSED

Meanwhile, Col. John Bonafos, Commander of the 802nd Brigade, has recommended the Prosperity Teams' Operations in the barangays of Carmen town be temporarily suspended in order for the multi-agency Technical Working Group (TWG) to assess the implementation of the program in that municipality. Designed to bring development projects and programs of the government closer to the heart of the Boholano people, the Prosperity Team is the vehicle of the operational strategy adopted by the Provincial Government in partnership with the Philippine Army and the Philippine National Police. The unique program aims to give substance to the provincial development agenda anchored on HEAT or Health and Sanitation, Education and Technology, Agriculture and Food Security, Tourism and Livelihood up to the Purok level.

The Prosperity Team works and moves as a team. ProTeams are assigned in 5 out of 29 barangays in the municipality of Carmen where the members are composed of community organizers coming from the Office of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development, Provincial Health Office, Office of the Provincial Agriculturist, Office of the Provincial Veterinarian, members of the Philippine Army from the 2nd Special Forces Battalion, and the Bohol Provincial Police Office. Governor Edgar Chatto, per information, concurred with the recommendations of Bonafos. The Teams facilitate the conduct of dialogues among members of the community where priority concerns are raised and subsequently bridged to the different agencies of the government for immediate response.  Teams likewise conduct house to house visits to collect data and various development related issues in the household level.

The Purok is a cluster of household members living near each other in a Barangay providing mutual, common interests, security and clannish in nature.  The Purok System is a collaborative and comprehensive approach in social development and delivery of basic services to the members of the Purok defined under Provincial Ordinance No. 36, series of 2011. The ProTeams help strengthen existing puroks by capacitating their Purok leaders and volunteers thru the Countryside Development Program: Purok Power Movement (CDP:PPM) defined under Executive Order No. 31, series of 2011. Through its security component, the teams were escorted by Carmen policemen and members of the army battalion stationed in Riverside, Bilar town under Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner. The lady mayor immediately met with the army commander Friday afternoon as soon as the pull out order was known to explain the reason of the mayor’s “tactical move”.

According to reports, it was not the mayor who personally relayed the order to pull out the “pro teams” but it was coursed through the respective barangay captains of the concerned villages were they were stationed. The presence of security details involving the teams were reportedly cleared by Police Supt. Constantino Paul Barot, Jr., provincial police director. Upon knowing that Police Inspector Ceasar Acompanado, Carmen police chief was ordered by Supt. Barot to provide the security escort of the teams, the angry mayor ordered her chief of police to pull out immediately. Mayor Toribio also coordinated with Col. Bunafos, commander of the 802nd Brigade Command based in Katipunan, Carmen, regarding the pull out of army men sent as the teams’ military component. The same reports said, Mayor Che balked at knowing that Carmen policemen were used as security escorts of the teams.

Told it was the directive of Supt. Barot, Mayor Che barked at her chief of police, telling him: “You take orders from me, not from Supt. Barot”. Reports from Carmen revealed that as soon as Mayor Che learned of the activities of Chatto’s team, the fighting mayor was all set to confront the team leaders themselves and personally order them to get out of Carmen. It was to the good fortune of the teams that they packed up as early as Thursday night before Mayor Che made a personal pullout order averting what could have been a tense moment with the security detail of army men and Carmen cops.