PEACE PROTOCOL. Lawyer Elisa Lapiña, municipal administrator of Santo Tomas in Davao del Norte, explains the town's "peace protocol" during a press conference on Monday (December 9, 2019). Beside her is her father, Mayor Ernesto Evangelista. (PNA photo by Che Palicte)
SANTO TOMAS, Davao del Norte – With the recent clash between the New People’s Army (NPA) and government troops in neighboring areas, this municipality has established a "peace protocol" to further secure the town from the threats of insurgency.
Primarily, the protocol entails the strengthening of the town's monitoring of people coming in and going out of its jurisdiction.
"Anybody who would like to conduct any programs or activities here will be directed to the mayor’s office,” said Municipal Administrator Atty. Elisa Lapiña on Monday.
On Thursday (December 5), a 10-minute exchange of gunfire in nearby Barangay Colosas, Paquibato District, Davao City, was heard by residents of Barangay Magwawa here, creating panic among the students and teachers of the Magwawa Integrated School.
“We have established the peace protocol to monitor and consequently avoid incidents relative to armed conflict," Lapiña said, adding the protocol was approved by the Municipal Peace and Order Council (MPOC) on Monday morning.
“It is also a sort of inventory for those coming in and out of the municipality. We will also try to avoid those scammers victimizing our constituents here,” she added.
Lapiña said the local government will coordinate with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) to implement the security elements of the "peace protocol".
As part of the protocol, she said the leader or representative of the organizer of any project, program or activity "shall have the responsibility to share important information such as the title, location, date of the activity, purpose, contact person, number of expected participants and ingress and egress to and from the municipality".
”This protocol serves as our way of strengthening our program for peace and development in this municipality and the entire province of Davao del Norte,” she said. (PNA)
