By Nanette Guadalquiver
BACOLOD CITY – The Police Regional Office – Negros Island Region (PRO-NIR) launched the “CampuSaya,” a holistic school violence prevention campaign, at the Bacolod City National High School (BCNHS) campus on Thursday afternoon.
Working closely with the Department of Education and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the PRO-NIR aims to “prevent school violence, strengthen campus security and emergency response, and build a culture where every member of the school community takes an active role in protecting children.”
NIR includes Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Siquijor, and the highly urbanized Bacolod City.
PRO-NIR Director Rudecindo said CampuSaya focuses on three main pillars – mind resilience, peer gatekeeping, and enhanced campus security and response.
By having resilient minds, learners are equipped with the strength to face challenges, recognize warning signs, and seek help before problems escalate.
Peer protection gets a focus because the first person who notices that something is wrong is not usually an authority, but a classmate.
Enhancing campus security and response through community mobilization is vital since no school, no police unit, and no parent can accomplish the mission alone.
Brig. Gen. Villaflor Bannawagan, PRO-NIR deputy director for administration, said everyone must work together to strengthen campus security, improve emergency response, and create a protective network around every learner.
“Because we cannot always choose the challenges our children will face, but together, we can build an environment that gives them a better chance to overcome them. This is CampuSaya: Resilient Minds. Kind Hearts. Zero Hate,” he added.
During the launch, BCNHS Supreme Secondary Learner Government president Danila Thea Mata led the “CampuSaya” pledge, which states that every student chooses to care, speak up, and protect because they deserve to feel safe, and their school deserves to be a place of hope.
“When I see danger, I will not stay silent. When I hear a serious concern, I will tell the right person. I will see. I will hear. I will speak up,” they pledged.
To affirm their commitment to the campaign, the BCNHS students placed their palm prints on the pledge printed on a tarpaulin.
Col. Gilbert Gorero, chief of PRO-NIR staff, urged the students to report violence and threats to emergency hotline 911 and other local police hotlines.
“We will take your report seriously and without delay,” he added.
These include actual imminent violence or a situation where violence is happening or about to happen, and violence not yet occurring wherein a student is aware of a threat, plan, or suspicious activity that may lead to violence. (PNA)
