DAVAO CITY—President Duterte on Monday urged barangay chairmen across the country to secure their own villages from street prowlers, or face sanction, or even dismissal, if street crimes continue to soar in their respective jurisdictions.
Duterte administered the oath of office of the newly elected barangay officials in Northern Mindanao at the Limketkai Atrium in Cagayan de Oro City, and where he admonished that “as mayor, governor or president of your respective barangays, do what is your duty.”
“You have to protect the people, you’re barangay captains, and you must see to it that the nation is preserved,” he said, even as the President asked the audience to join his administration’s drive to eliminate street crimes and maintain peace and order.
A news statement issued by the Presidential Communications Office after the event said Duterte instructed the barangay officials how to engage and treat the tambay or street loiterers.
“We call them istambay. That’s the word. That is my order. And you continue to frisk people who are there in streets and that is legal. Until such time, that is my order,” the President said.
Duterte said he was ordering them and the other authorities to frisk loiterers and not to arrest them, and for minors caught loitering to be taken only to the custody of the social welfare department “for their protection and not for arrest.”
He said the act of frisking loiterers and taking into custody of minors “are legal unless the Supreme Court declares otherwise.”
Duterte said the barangay officials could always invoke police power of the state to establish order and safety, which, he said, would not be subject anymore to legislation.
He cited a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey which shows Filipino families “have become victims of street crimes, including theft and robbery, carnapping, sexual harassment, and physical violence.”
“Fear of burglary, fear of unsafe streets and presence of drug addicts. That’s what residents are afraid of here,” Duterte said.
He added that as village chiefs, “it is your duty to protect the welfare of the public and that the local government is mandated to enforce existing national laws.”
“You, the barangay captain, do what is your duty. You are more than just a policeman because you are mayors. You are the governors and the president of your barangay,” the President said.
He warned, though, that if records still show high crime rates and drug-related incidents in their respective barangays, the chieftains would be charged with neglect of duty.
“And the next time is gross neglect and I will simply, upon the recommendation, upon investigation, recommendation of General [Eduardo M.] Año, if he says that you should go, I will dismiss you,” Duterte said.