BONTOC, Mountain Province – The Bontoc Municipal Police Station (MPS) in collaboration with the Bontoc Local Government Unit (LGU) and other partner agencies have stepped up the training of Barangay Peacekeeping Action Teams (BPATs) in the municipality.
The Bontoc MPS led by Chief of Police, PMAJ Pedro Tactay, recently conducted Enhancement Training participated in the members of the BPATs from the 16 barangays of Bontoc at the Municipal Capitol Auditorium.
Municipal Administrator Eric Fulangen, Sr., who represented Bontoc Mayor Jerome “Chagsen” Tudlong, Jr., who has to attend an equally important event recognized the role of the BPATs and their importance as an added force of the police officers in maintaining peace and order in the community.
He emphasized that public safety is a shared responsibility between the police and the community. Thus, the training was conducted to help improve the capabilities of BPATs and result in more effective and efficient community machinery and law enforcement.
With this, Fulangen encouraged the participants to actively participate in training, to learn new knowledge, and to refresh their memories regarding their roles as peacemakers of their barangay, their jurisdiction, and their roles in helping the PNP curb criminality.
During the activity, the PMAJ Tactay discussed the role of BPATs and BPAT pointers.
PSSg Edyzon Mariano talked about the importance of BPATs in the barangay, citizen arrest and Anti-illegal drugs.PSSg Benjamin Chumacog shared his expertise on self-defense and arnis techniques.
Further, the Bontoc Municipal Fire Station (MFS) under the leadership of Municipal Fire Marshall, INSP Cesar Badang, Jr., lectured on disaster response and first aid.
Also, personnel from the Charlie Coy, 54th Infantry Battalion, 5th Infantry Division, Philippine Army focused their discussion on deceptive recruitment of the New People’s Army.
It is to be noted that Peace and Order forms part of the pillars of the roadmap of the present administration which is “ENLANGAKHA: Achieving the Vision for a Dynamic Bontoc”. Thus, the Bontoc LGU allocates funds from its budget to ensure the implementation and realization of capability training for BPATs.