Butuan City to promote community involvement in peace and order development
By Mariesh F. CeledeΓ±a
BUTUAN CITY - The Butuan City Police Office (BCPO) launched the Barangay Anti-Criminality Action Plan (BACAP) in Barangay Holy Redeemer, Butuan City on January 20, 2025. Since the launching they were able to visit 76 of the 86 barangays in Butuan City who supported the plans.
The Barangay Anti-Criminality Action Plan (BACAP) is anchored in the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Local Government Code (R.A. 7160) section 391, Community and Service-Oriented Policing (CSOP) of the National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM), and the Patrol Plan 2030 of the Philippine National Police which empowers the barangays to create initiatives that will help in maintaining peace and order.
Based on the comparative data, a total of 171 peace and order incidents were recorded from January 1 to March 16, 2024, while 159 incidents were recorded from January 1 to March 16, 2025 resulting in a 7.01% decrease. This decrease is due to the timely reports of the barangay tanods and the prompt response of the police officers on the reported cases.
“We have successful operations, just last week we have successfully conducted a buy bust operation resulting in the apprehension of 400 grams of shabu and 2 drug pushers in barangay Holy Redeemer. This is due to the information given by the residents and the barangay Tanod. Through BACAP, many reports were already received by the office,” disclosed PCol Rommel D. Villamor, city director of the Butuan City Police Office.
He also emphasized that “Our office hopes to prevent the crime before it is made with the help of the first hand information from the barangay, creating safe streets and spaces, a ready and resilient community, and a happy, healthy and progressive community.”
Under the plan, the BCPO will be conducting a series of lectures and seminars to capacitate the barangay Tanods on law enforcement and equip them on the proper protocols and respond procedures during incidents through a conduct of simulation exercises.
Operational activities such as patrolling, OPLAN Recoreda, OPLAN Disciplina, and more will also be conducted in partnership with the barangays.
“We all want a safe and peaceful barangay but we cannot do this alone. We need to work together. With the help of BACAP, the strong collaboration between the barangay and police, we can make our barangay a better place to live,” Florita Montilla, punong barangay of Barangay Diego Silang, Butuan City.
According to Montilla, barangay Diego Silang is in the city with two (2) largely populated schools which are the Butuan Central Elementary School and Agusan National High School. During the evening there are cases wherein school fights and gang fights happen outside the school. Supporting the initiative of BCPO will greatly help them in addressing this issue. (MFC/PIA-Caraga)
