GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 01 Sept) — Thousands of residents here took to the streets on Wednesday to renew their support and commitment to President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.
Carrying placards and streamers, around 15,000 residents marched along the city’s main streets to join the “people’s rally against illegal drugs and criminality” organized by the city government.
The mobilization highlighted the grand launching of the local government’s anti-criminality campaign dubbed Purok Laban Krimen.
The participants included students, private and government workers, barangay officials, and members of community groups, non-government organizations and other sectoral groups.
Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who graced the launching of the initiative at the city oval plaza’s covered court, rallied residents to help sustain the gains of the national government’s ongoing “war against illegal drugs” in their own communities.
Dela Rosa said the campaign has continued to gain ground these past weeks mainly due to the support and participation of community stakeholders.
He lauded the city government and local leaders for initiating the project, which is backed by the city’s 26 barangay councils and other key stakeholders.
Dela Rosa said the PNP will reciprocate the move through better performance and services to the people.
“The fight against illegal drugs, crime and corruption is not ours or of the government alone. It is everybody’s fight,” he said.
Purok Laban Krimen is a community-based project of the city government that involves the participation of people at the grassroots level in the fight against illegal drugs and criminality.
It will serve as the local government’s advocacy body as provided for in Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Memorandum Circular No. 2015-53 that sets the revitalization of the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils.
The city’s peace and order council, through the DILG, earlier issued a resolution supporting the sustainability of the project.
The City Council also passed a resolution on Tuesday expressing its “commitment and support” to the implementation of the Purok Laban Krimen.
Vice Mayor Shirlyn Banas-Nograles said the project is just part of the greater action and commitment of the local government and residents to help the national government win its war against illegal drugs and criminality.
“The strong resolve and commitment of our President Rodrigo R. Duterte to eradicate the drug menace in our country has every segment of our community rising to the challenge by exerting intensified and unprecedented efforts to combat the scourge that has long been corrupting and destroying the present and future generations of our nation,” she said.
She said the city government tapped the puroks to be at the forefront of the campaign as they are directly involved in terms of responding to the needs and concerns of residents in local communities.
The puroks can provide law enforcers with better and more accurate information as to the state of drug problems and criminality in communities.
“It is therefore wise and proper to involve them in this fight to make our efforts more comprehensive and effective, especially that we deal with it at the grassroots level,” the vice mayor said.
“I am confident that this will not just be a symbolic gesture but a call to action that will produce real results in making our city safer and secure than what it is now,” she added. (MindaNews)
