PNA photo courtesy of BCPO
The Baguio City government has directed police to deepen engagement with youth groups, including street gangs, as part of efforts to address vandalism, graffiti and aggressive behavior in communities.
Mayor Benjamin Magalong said he instructed the Baguio City Police Office to expand dialogues with youth groups to steer them away from criminal activity and encourage discipline and peaceful community involvement.
Magalong said the city was monitoring graffiti incidents because some markings could be linked to gang activity, although not all cases of graffiti were necessarily connected to crimes.
He said graffiti could sometimes be used by criminal gangs as a form of communication, prompting him to ask the BCPO to determine whether recent incidents were gang-related.
BCPO Director Col. Ruel Tagel has started reaching out to youth groups, while BCPO information officer Maj. Marcy Grace Marron said nine groups had so far been identified for engagement.
Marron said the groups were being encouraged to join the UNITY Alliance, which had earlier met with the BCPO, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Labor and Employment, and the office of Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda on June 30.
She said members of the youth groups had expressed support for police peace and order programs, with some joining officers on July 5 in cleaning and repainting vandalized walls in New Lucban village.
BCPO records showed that some gang members in the city had been linked to vandalism, physical injuries, bullying and theft. Police said they were coordinating livelihood training, employment, scholarship opportunities and other community activities, while city ordinances penalize unauthorized markings and prohibit street gangs and the recruitment of minors for violence and disorder.
