Peace 911 initiative to expand in all barangays of Davao City

The Davao Peace 911 initiative will be expanded across the city to further safeguard the peace and security of farflung villages.

PEACE 911 is a comprehensive peace-building and development initiative of the city government under then-mayor Sara Duterte.

Its pilot area is the Paquibato district, a hotbed for communist guerrillas.

“Soon enough, since the ordi- nance has been passed, we will operate citywide. So it’s not just the Paquibato area. We will operate throughout the city, especially in areas that are prone to conflict like Marilog, Calinan, and Toril districts,” lawyer Jonah Presto, Peace 911 focal person, said in an interview Monday.

The Peace 911 initiative was established on May 10, 2018, to counter communist rebel forces by strengthening community relations and delivering govern- ment services in the area.

It has since expanded to cover Marilog District and four other villages in Calinan to prevent insurgency groups from exploiting social issues to advance their interests.

Peace 911 acts as a coordinating agency to address problems and unrest in far-flung communities that have been deprived of government services and interventions.

The City Agriculturist Office (CAgro) reported more or less 80 percent accomplishment for the pre-active phase activities designed to mitigate the effects of the El Niño phenomenon projected to start next month.

“We are almost done with it, siguro 70 to 80 percent na among gihimo nga activity for the pre-active phase. We will review nalang sa amoang activities nga gihimo this coming Friday sa amoang regular meeting with the Execom (We are almost done with it, maybe about 70 to 80 percent of the activities for the pre-active phase have been completed. We will review the activities we have conducted this Friday during our regular meeting with the Execom),” Haspe said.

He added that by this week, they will already be able to identify highly vulnerable areas. After the identification, Haspe said that they will check the available water sources that could be utilized for the area.

“We will deploy kadtong mga water pump nato didto para magamit nato didto, pero kung walay available water source and accessible siya, ang CDRRMO water tanks pwde nato magamit (We will deploy water pumps that we can use for the said areas but if there is no available water source and the area is accessible we can use the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) water tanks),” Haspe said.

He added that the purchase of water pumps for dry spells was part of the 2020 disaster funds of Davao City.

Haspe said that they were also able to identify irrigation facilities that need repair.

“Gipa-estimate na nako sa engineering for immediate repair, para ma ensure nga mudagan gyud ang atong irrigation facilities, (The engineering department has been asked to make an estimate for immediate repair to ensure that these irrigation facilities would work),” he said.

On March 27, CAgro activated its pre-active phase for the El Niño phenomenon in line with Pagasa’s forecast that it will hit in the third quarter of 2023 and will last until 2024.