Safety awareness

By RIZA GOSTADO, RAFI intern
August 27, 2013

CEBU CITY – The world is now a more dangerous place to live. Walking at night is already unsafe. The death rate in the Philippines is high, at 4.98 persons for every 1,000 people. We can be safer, though, if we are aware. Hence, it is important to read and learn about safety tips to be more aware and hopefully, safer.

Accidents, murder, calamities are just a few threats to our lives that we need to be aware of. However, there are those tasked to keep us safe, among them the police.

“We are willing to die for others to live,” said Chief inspector Teodolfo Manatad II of Cebu City Police Office (CPPO), during a recent Urban Development Forum at the Eduardo Aboitiz Development Studies Center (EADSC) of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc., (RAFI).

The police helps maintain peace and order and they do this through the creation of an integrated anti-criminality plan, extended night watch patrol program, and mobile patrol service.

One service they offer is protection of witnesses of crimes against the suspects and even from the “bad eggs” among the supposed protectors of the people. Here, the media plays a role in exposing such police officers whose actions mar the reputation of the entire force.

Manatad said that if he has his way, he likes that media limit or do away with focusing on exposing these kind of policemen, saying public perception are affected as media is very influential.

In the same vein, the media plays an important role in preparing the public against storms and other calamities and for government agencies, like the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management (NDRRM), to be ready in providing evacuation centers, relief goods, and other services.

“We are requiring the local government units to have their own DRRM plan”, said Provincial Civil Defense Officer Florenda Gaviola.

She said that drills on emergency procedures help students and workers to respond properly once disasters strike. This could lessen injuries and loss of lives as they are more aware and therefore more prepared. This is what differentiates the town of San Francisco, Cebu in Camotes island.

In 2011, San Francisco was awarded the prestigious 2011 United Nations Sasakawa Award for Disaster Risk Reduction, particularly for utilizing local knowledge to disseminate critical information and risk assessment, waste segregation, delivery of health services, and related activities at the household level through the purok system, initiated through the Our Cebu Program, a long-term development program of RAFI and the Cebu Provincial Government designed to make Cebu an ideal place to live, work, play, invest, and do business.

San Francisco is now “a place to live, a place to visit,” said former mayor Alfredo Arquillano about his town.

He shared that they minimized pollution by controlling the number of public vehicles. More importantly, though, residents are concerned about and are responsible in protecting the environment.

The youth, in particular, worked hard in maintaining cleanliness and as leaders in advocacies that promote awareness related to environment protection.