Five Success Factors

1. Leadership

An analysis of leadership, which we conjecture as a decisive variable in patrol success, focuses on the Chairman Silvano’s role in the whole process. Chairman Silvano is a graduate of the Ateneo and is currently teaching in Xavier. Needless to say, he is educated and very well connected. His connections enabled the barangay to acquire equipment that it might not be able to afford otherwise. Chairman Silvano had repeatedly been able to muster the financial support of his connections in Xavier.

The leadership style of Chaiman Silvano has also proven beneficial to the crime prevention efforts. His commitment to a democratic and participative management of the barangay manifested in his quick move to establish links with the very residents through consultation. That the previous barangay council did not do the same laborious consultation method of Chairman Silvano articulates the dynamism the young new chairman seems to have injected into the barangay council. It is evident that even the historicity of the leader has a palpable impact on the over-all direction of crime prevention efforts. A leader’s dispositions, personality, leadership style, stature in society, even his network of connections are all crucial to establish a direction that promotes – a direction that stakeholders will support.

However, leadership’s value to patrol efforts does not only include Chairman Silvano but also the head of the peace and order group, his brother Kagawad Ricky. These writers believe that the familial ties between chairman and Peace and Order Head are also worthy of analysis. Even in organizations with dynamic leaders, frictions with other pertinent officials frustrate reform initiatives. Since the two are brothers and have been observed by these writers to have an excellent working relationship within the barangay, Chairman Silvano’s ideas are almost guaranteed support from below. Furthermore, these writers believe that the ties between the two allow open discussion of ideas; when Chairman Silvano proposes a patrol-related undertaking before the council, the proposal is already a product of the discussions the two brothers and the inputs from the experience of the entire patrol system of which Kagawad Ricky is head. Hence Chairman Silvano’s proposal can be implemented with fewer squabbles – especially not from Kagawad Ricky. If this is not yet the case (which s unlikely), then the brothers would be well advised to exploit this opportunity to make proposals which will quickly get everyone’s approval.

During the interview with Kagawad Ricky, he smilingly quipped that while the previous council had enough dissenting voices to retard productive activities, the current council gets along very well. At this point, it is clear that while individual leaders influence the direction of projects like a patrol system, the weight of a whole bureaucracy in an organization may steer it to different directions.

Conversely, while the familial relationship between chairman and patrol head cannot be translated in other contexts, it must noted that what we are describing as beneficial to the patrol effort is a smooth and orderly leadership structure where there is excellent working relations from above and below the organizational chart; leaders are open to the input of his subordinates while subordinates are more inclined to support the leaders’ proposals or constructively improve them.

2. Consultation

Indeed, just like what the literature says, consultation is crucial because it allows the stakeholders to air concerns and extract commitment from the community leaders. Likewise, community leaders benefit because their initiatives gain legitimacy, and support from the people – whether the support be expressed implicitly through respect or explicitly through material donations, or other tangible contributions. But the experience in Little Baguio also reveals that the manner of consultation also plays a part in jolting the stakeholders into action. In fact, it seems that the more unprecedented the manner of consultation, the more the stakeholders are jolted into participation.

Almost right after from assuming office, Chairman Silvano took upon himself the unprecedented and laborious task of consulting with the stakeholders in each area or street in the whole territory of Little Baguio which took 20 days to complete. It must have entailed some sacrifices because he also taught (and still teaches) at Xavier. Past consultations involved inviting residents to assemble in a designated place. Chairman Silvano noted that a disappointing number attended and many just sent their underlings to these assemblies – thus the voices of a crucial stratum of stakeholders were not heard in the conventional consultation. Going to where they live surely circumvented this problem.

The very act of going to their places was an instrument of spreading goodwill. It was the newly installed Chairman’s way of saying that the barangay is under a young, yet competent, caring and dedicated leader. It amplified to the community that they are involved in their own community’ safety. As mentioned, consultation gave the barangay access to the willingness of stakeholders to share their resources for the common good of the barangay. The barangay received donations, solicited more money, and got more pledges. Perhaps, another important contribution of consultation (not frequently encountered in the literature, if at all) is its power to consciously or unconsciously transmit to the community the values of proactive participation and altruism.

As a final note on how to improve consultation process, Chairman Silvano and the stakeholders must be consciously aware that the “Visitation” consultation method is an opportunity to transmit values. It is a precedent which can hopefully establish the template of any barangay initiative in the future. Thus, it may be helpful to institutionalize such consultation method into a regular yearly undertaking. The usual assembly consultation can serve as a supplement to the more emotive Visitation consultation.

3. Funding
The analysis of funding is simple: the barangay’s internal source of funding is inadequate but the nonetheless, the barangay still acquired enough resources to procure equipment and manpower which are important to patrol reforms. Again, the importance of leadership surfaces. Spontaneous sources of funding from connections and stakeholders who were tapped during the consultation augmented the insufficient financial might of the barangay. Because of the rescue provided by donations, the barangay had been able to bolster the assets of the patrol and consequently help in preventing crime.

How can the financial situation be improved?

Clearly, the barangay must not neglect its own coffers. To increase revenue allocation by increasing the number of registered population, the barangay must take concrete measures to ensure that a more accurate population figure is registered at the National Statistics Office. One such step is to inform the all the stakeholders of the dates the NSO personnel will make rounds in the area and enjoin them to participate because the barangay deserves a bigger IRA. The barangay can also mobilize stakeholders to accompany NSO personnel so that they are more able to access the dwellings of the hesitant (or perhaps diffident) middle class, and the denizens of high-rise residential towers, or apartments. In this undertaking, the barangay can request for volunteers, relegate it to the available tanods, or invite civic-minded Xavier students, orgs, or students of civic-related classes to accompany NSO personnel.

4. Manpower-Training

Firstly, the increase in manpower from 6 to 15 tanods substantially improved the range and capacity of the system. If the directives are followed strictly, there are 4 tanods on the field at any given moment. The series of training of the current patrol tanods also improved the reliability of tanods in crime prevention and somehow gave them slivers of skill to intervene with crime as it happens. The barangay is also more confident to field trained tanods.

Our research does not reveal any formal continuity in the training once they were completed. So the recourse is to hope that there are reinforcement mechanisms that enable them to retain or even sharpen their learning in the four areas of training. However, these writers believe that the benefits of the first aid training and police training (this included bomb detection etc…), may quickly fade because there seems to be few opportunities to reinforce those learned skills. The same could not be said of the traffic management training and some legal aspects because tanods continually engage in traffic management and logbook keeping. Also, the addition of manpower in the form of a dedicated VAWC desk appears to do little in preventing crime. In 2007, there were only 17 reported cases of physical abuse while in January to October of 2008, there were already 23 reported cases of physical abuse. With the reasonable assumption that physical abuse is the usual form of violence against women and children, then we can say that the VAWC has not been able to deter violence against women and children.

Clearly, manpower-training has to be refined.

Firstly, there must be a continuous reinforcement of learned skills either through scheduled seminars/demonstrations, through patrol meetings devoted to sharing of experiences, updating, reflecting, or through active mentorship among the patrol teams.

It seems that the series of four trainings happened due somehow to circumstances external to the Little Baguio’s barangay council. For example, UP Law provided legal training, tanods underwent training at TMPO upon the encouragement of the City of San Juan’s directive, etc… So secondly, the barangay (if it has not yet done so) must institute or formalize a training procedure for its tanods and not rely on what training is offered, encouraged or available in the external environment. Rather, after crafting a sort of feasible “curriculum”, the barangay must seek from the environment the expertise required to fulfill the “curriculum”, if ever the expertise cannot be found within the curriculum. It is possible that the teaching experience of Chairman Silvano be useful in formulating an effective learning process for the tanods.

Thirdly, the barangay must ponder on including combat skills in the training of tanods. Tanods are given sticks, wooden blocks etc… as weapons, it is only logical that they also be taught systematic ways of wielding those implements. Again, student groups or PE teachers in Xavier (where Chairman Silvano is very well connected) who have relevant knowledge in weapons may be requested to conduct seminars/combat demonstrations to the tanods.
5. Equipment

Aside from the increase in manpower, the major difference in the reformed patrol system is the addition of the Suzuki Multi-cab which was converted into a dedicated patrol vehicle equipped with a blinker. The new patrol vehicle afforded the patrol greater mobility, responsiveness and increased the scope of its crime prevention efforts. The inclusion of blinkers is also commendable and strategic because by imitating police vehicles it greatly increases the visibility of the patrol’s approach. Because of the blinkers, more criminals from locations farther from the multi-cab are made aware of the nearby presence of “law-enforcers”, thus increasing the deterrent quality of the roaming patrol. This also testifies to Ekblom’s typology that that the community patrol is designed not to engage offenders but to manipulate the environment so as to discourage offenders or a disorder event. The blinker-equipped multi-cab also prevents the patrols from having to confront the offenders or criminals because clearly, the tanods themselves are neither enthusiastic nor sufficiently trained and equipped to intervene in the crime.

Though the multi-cab is the center of an analysis in equipment, the usefulness of the uniform must not be underestimated. The presence of a uniformed duo in an area provides a certain level of deterrence against offenders.

Indeed, the patrol system does not have yet the optimal mix and quantity of equipment. Chairman Silvano himself said that two-way radios which can utilize the unused antenna in the Barangay Hall are urgently needed. Purchase of a new motorcycle with side-car is in being planned.

Since the barangay itself knows these areas for improvement, this paper then points to another concern: the depreciation of equipment. Because these assets are investments, it is only proper for the barangay to make these assets last long as possible. The rate of depreciation must be reduced. The barangay must identify its most valued assets and distribute maintenance costs accordingly. For example, because the multi-cab is currently the most valuable, it must command greater maintenance and care from the barangay. Furthermore, the barangay must also identify the uses of each asset and stipulate that it cannot be used for any other reasons.

The handlers, drivers, or users of the assets must also be strictly recorded in a logbook. Not only will these measures protect the assets from overuse and abuse, these will also promote discipline and accountability among barangay personnel.