BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio Domogan has ordered Baguio City Police Office personnel to include the apprehension of graffiti vandals as one of their priorities to bolster the city’s on-going campaign against graffiti vandalism.
The Mayor made this appeal during a recent Alay Sa Kalinisan committee meeting at city hall where Anti-Graffiti Task Force (AGTF) volunteer operations head Ross Goze mentioned that more effective cooperation and support is needed from local police in enforcing the city’s Anti-Graffiti Code.
Domogan said that graffiti vandalism is a growing problem in the city and it is usually young people who are members of gangs that are engaged in this illegal activity.
He is also asking parents to instill the proper values to their children since this will go a long way in keeping them from going astray.
Co-chaired by Domogan and CJ Neiderstadt, the AGTF is currently conducting lectures and trainings for barangay volunteers on the city’s Anti-Graffiti Code at its office at the Baguio Convention Center.
The code defines graffiti or graffiti vandalism as “any unauthorized inscription, word, figure, painting or defacement that is written, marked, etched, scratched, sprayed, drawn, painted or engraved on or otherwise affixed, to the extent that the graffiti was not authorized in advance by the owner or occupant of the property, or despite advance authorization, is otherwise deemed a public nuisance. It shall include all types of unauthorized markings amounting to vandalism and public nuisance.”
A property owner is not absolutely prohibited from authorizing graffiti-type artwork for decorative purposes.
It also mentions other prohibited acts, penalties to be imposed for violations and other pertinent details for its proper implementation.
By Gaby Keith
