Peace and order has been one of the major advocacies of the present administration. Mayor Baba Yap reiterated this call in the City Peace and Order Council meeting held last August 15 at the session hall of the City Government. Mayor Yap made himself clear when he asked for results rather than problems during the assembly. The mayor was not disappointed when P/Supt. Romeo Perigo, city police, reported that the crimes committed from July to August dropped significantly compared to the crime volume last June. P/Supt Perigo attributed the decrease in their deployment of police patrols. Currently, the city PNP has conducted 117 checkpoints from July to August. This is done by three teams every night. On the other hand, P/Supt Perigo reported that they cannot file the appropriate cases against the perpetrators due to lack of witnesses and evidences. Also, they had problems with detaining minors because R.A. 9344 states that a “child 15 years of age or under at the time of the commission of the offense shall be exempt from criminal liability.” Mayor Baba proposed making a youth detention hall where these minors can receive counseling.

Ma. Chona Egam from the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA) followed and commended the city PNP for their timely submission of documents to PDEA concerning drug related crimes. But Ms. Egam said that their agency lacks the sufficient manpower to address the drug problems in Bohol. Currently, they only have 4 agents in the province. Also, they do not have vehicles to conduct drug-related operations. Mayor Yap said the 4 agents are not enough to penetrate Tagbilaran, how much more the rest of the municipalities. Most of the barangay captains are in agreement that PDEA should deal with this crisis immediately. They said they have done their part by providing the necessary information towards the identification of the pushers in their respective barangays, but so far, nothing has happened. The police are not authorized to capture these pushers unless they have a control number from PDEA. As a result, their efforts were only wasted. P/Supt Perigo also lamented that the needed requirements in securing a control number were too rigorous. Further, P/Supt Perigo has requested PDEA to install realistic requirements. Ronald Pumatong from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) motioned to pass a resolution, which was immediately seconded, to increase the manpower of PDEA in Bohol. This will be in consonance with the resolution passed by the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) during their last meeting. Thus Mayor Yap unanimously “Passed a Resolution requesting PDEA for manpower reinforcements.” Mayor Yap said the council is optimistic that solutions for these challenges will be ready next meeting. He further encouraged the council to continue taking initiative by acting rather than by reacting to events. JLB