BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan warned those involved in the proliferation of graffiti around the city that they will be dealt with accordingly once arrested by law enforcers and members of the Baguio Anti-Graffiti task force formed to go after those who continue to dirty the city through their wrongful acts.
Domogan made the pronouncement during Monday’s re-launching of the anti-graffiti task force which is composed of various government and non-government representatives in order to strengthen the city’s campaign to sustain the cleanliness of the city, especially public places.
“Graffiti has no place in our city and people involved in graffiti also have no place in our society. We will not hesitate to impose the stiffest penalty against you if you continue to dirty our city,” Domogan stressed.
The city government is closely working with the different national government agencies and the concerned departments for the strict implementation of the anti-graffiti campaign in order to effect the arrest of individuals involved in dirtying the city so that appropriate disciplinary actions will be taken against them.
He cited the task force will be deploying various monitoring teams all over the city to monitor the activities of the individuals and groups involved in graffiti so that it would be easier for authorities to pinpoint their activities and to effect their arrest.
It was learned that on April 23, 2015, the city’s anti-graffiti task force will be conducting a massive clean-up campaign in order to remove the graffiti in the different parts of the city and to closely monitor the activities of fraternities involved in graffiti so that those individuals involved would be arrested and penalized.
Under the anti-graffiti ordinance, persons arrested and found violating the local legislative measure are mandated to render at least 5 days of community service for the first offense.
Domogan recognized graffiti is one of the major concerns that needs to be addressed by the local government and its partners because it greatly affects the cleanliness campaign, especially in the different barangays and in public places.
He appealed to barangay officials to also create anti-graffiti teams in their respective areas of jurisdiction so that those involved in dirtying the city will be arrested and imposed the needed disciplinary actions for them to learn their lessons the hard way and for them to start reforming themselves.
He said it is unfortunate that after the graffiti has been cleaned by concerned government agencies and volunteers, there are people who enjoy writing on public places which do not conform with the government’s beautification campaign.
According to him, the operation of the anti-graffiti task force would be unrelenting and uncompromising that is why it is best for those individuals involved in the graffiti activities to better reform or else they will face the consequences of their illegal activities of dirtying the city.
By Dexter A. See
