2

Peacekeeping is the essential function of the police, and police visibility

is one of the main thrusts of this peacekeeping activity. Without the

peacekeeping activity, it would be desperate for the police visibility may not

work in addressing criminality in all situations. It is needed to maintain the

harmonics living of the community. (Manwong 2010)

Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT) plays a significant role in

the Philippine National Police (PNP) Organization (Lowry et al, 2005). The

Patrol Officers serve as the first person you can ask for in times of need

(Sluka, 2012). They are in-charge of the worry of culprits and anticipation to

the individuals who might be hoodlums. It is understood that the patrol

officer’s life is at risk because of the nature of their duty. Partnership within

the community and the police is wickled as a weapon system by itself in the

campaign against crime. Apparently, the police cannot address today’s crime

problem alone. No matter how well-organized, equipped or highly motivated

the PNP maybe, it cannot function effectively in its fight against criminality

without the active cooperation of the community through the creation of the

BPAT.

Barangay Peacekeeping Operations (BPO) formerly known as Barangay

Intelligence Network (BIN), is a group of crime volunteers within the

barangays who help the anti-crime strategy integrated by the Philippine

National Police. It is a Police Community partnership law enforcement

wherein stakeholders are empowered to share the responsibility of

 3

peacekeeping and order in the community especially in the barangay level.

The Concept shall basically entail PNP members to lead in the fight against

all forms of criminality issues/concerns distinct to their area of responsibility,

to include insurgency problem, through active citizens involvement and

community empowerment.

With this, the researchers choose this study because it catches their

utmost interest as a criminology student to determine the effectiveness of

Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team and to provide recommendations for

the enhancement program to maintain the peace and order. This topic is

also related into the researcher field of study.

Review of Related Literature and Studies

This Chapter presents the review of different literature and studies

needed for the study.

Related Literature

Foreign

Peacekeeping has been one of the main conflict management tools

used by the international community to restore or safeguard peace and

security. Since 1948, the United Nations has established 70 peace operations

and has substantially evolved, adopting approaches to peace that extend

beyond purely military concerns. Indeed, the promises of peacekeeping as

 4

effective instrument of conflict reduction may, to some extent, explain the

evolution toward multidimensional missions and the unprecedented number

of peacekeepers deployed in the last decade. As consequence, the growing

importance of peacekeeping effectiveness has sparked a new wave of

research that empirically investigates whether and under which conditions

UN peacekeeping works. (Lacroix 2019)

Peacekeepers are mostly deployed in conflict or post conflict

environments where violence is either ongoing or lingering. Thus, violence

remains a priority for peace missions. Consequently, peacekeeping is

deemed successful or effective according to whether it curbs conflict in

several dimensions. Effective missions are those responsible for decreasing

the intensity of battle violence, protecting civilians, and containing conflict

diffusion and recurrence in the postwar phase. Each mission, however, is

deployed in different contexts and operates under variable conditions that

affect the operation’s capacity to influence conflict. Concerning mission

features, peacekeeping success is more likely when large contingents are

deployed under robust mandates. Mission type, size, and composition signal

credible commitment from the international community and empower

peacekeepers to halt violence while guaranteeing the implementation of

peace agreements. These nuanced understandings of peacekeeping stem

from the availability of new data on both conflict and peace operations at the

national and subnational levels of analysis. Moreover, the empirical study of

 5

the effectiveness of peace operations has recently been flanked by

simulation-based forecasting, field experiments, and surveys investigating

local-level outcomes of peace missions.(Miroslav 2019)

Unsurprisingly, the focus on violence and conflict outcomes as

indicators of success is debatable. First, in dealing with violence,

peacekeeping operations produce spillover effects that are largely neglected,

such as refugee flows and terrorist violence. Second, given the wide range of

functions performed by UN peacekeepers, including electoral assistance,

economic reconstruction, and state building, it is reasonable to include these

aspects when defining effectiveness. Third, and relatedly, no assessment of

short- versus long-term implications of peacekeeping for political, social, and

economic development in the host country has been forthcoming. While

reducing infant mortality, inequality, and crime are not necessarily tasks for

peacekeepers, it is vital to study whether and how UN missions may have

shaped the quality of peace in host countries. (Lacroix 2019)

The first UN peacekeeping mission was established on May 29th, 1948,

when the Security Council authorized the deployment of a small number of UN

military observers to the Middle East to form the United Nations Truce

Supervision Organization, or UNTSO, to monitor the armistice agreement

between Israel and its Arab neighbors.  Since then, more than 1 million men

and women have served in 72 UN peacekeeping operations, directly impacting

 6

the lives of millions of people, protecting the world’s most vulnerable, and

saving countless lives. (Smith, 2019)

Courage, bravery, selfless service, and sacrifice are just a few words

used to capture the aggregate character of these great women and men. 

Drawing from this history, the theme for this year’s International Day of

United Nations Peacekeepers is “Protecting Civilians, Protecting Peace.”  As the

demand for peacekeeping has grown in recent years, so have the demands

placed on those missions, including crucial evolution and mandates to

incorporate the protection of civilians. (Smith, 2019)

Local

Community Safekeeping has been defined as the objective to

safeguard the vital core of human lives and properties from critical

ubiquitous threats, in a way that is consistent with long term fulfillment.

With this notion, the Philippine National Police as the frontline of Criminal

Justice System in enforcement of law were accustomed on protection of life

and property of the public. (lorenzana 2015)

Crime is a significant concern in urban areas of the Philippines. Typical

criminal acts include pick-pocketing, confidence schemes, acquaintance

scams and in some cases, credit card fraud. Carjacking, kidnappings,

robberies and violent assaults sporadically occur. According to the Philipine

 7

National Police Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, the

Total Crime Volume in 2012 was 217, 812 as compared to 2011 with

241,998- a decrease of 24,176. Of the total 217,812 crime incidents, the

National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) registered the highest with

56,978 followed by regions 3 (Bulacan, Bataan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija,

Zambales, Tarlac, Aurora) and 7 (Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental, Siquijor)

with 22,498 and 20,466 reported incidents respectively. Theft (43,606

incidents), Physical assault (34,825 incidents), and robbery (26,988

incidents) are the top three commonly committed crimes according to the

Total Crime Volume. (Manalo2019)

Crimes involving theft, physical assault, and robbery were the top

three most common crimes reported to local authorities in 2013. Typical

criminal acts include: pickpocketing, confidence schemes, acquaintance

scams and credit card fraud. (Manalo2019)

It is essential that the police should shift its mind-set from its

traditional policing function of law enforcement to a more substantial role of

being law enforcer and community leader. The police should go beyond the

scope of their traditional duties and become increasingly conscious of the

role they can play in the solution of the major problems of society, with

particular reference to those raised by the potential threat brought about by

 8

the escalation of crime. The police should not merely be instrument of crime

control or suppression. (Lorenzana 2015)

Similarly the mandate of the PNP is pointed towards peace and order,

ensuring public safety and further strengthening capacity of local

government in the effective administration and delivery of the basic services

to the citizenry through the establishment of a highly efficient and

competent police force. (Lorenzana 2015)

Equally, Republic Act No. 8551 mandated the Philippine National

Police (PNP) as a service provider for the preservation of peace and safety of

the community. The PNP shall be so organized to ensure accountability and

uprightness in police exercise of discretion as well as to achieve efficiency

and effectiveness of its members and units in the performance of their

functions. (Patalinghug, 2017)

“Crime is as old as mankind itself.” Schafer stated that ever since the

biblical misconduct happened during the period of Adam and Eve, although

cultures of humanity have developed and rules have been formed since

then, violence has continued. [1] Crime has been present from the very start

of humanity and has never stopped. Furthermore, crime has become a

“common societal phenomenon” that it is deliberated now as part of an

organization’s functional element. There are different beliefs as to what

cause people to commit crimes. The common misconception is that crime is

 9

caused by poverty or other forms of social deprivation, but those are just a

few of the many possible reasons. One example that can support this is a

concept introduced during the 1940s by Edward Sutherland called “white-

collar crime”. [2] Sutherland diverted the attention of the people towards

crimes committed by individuals that belong to the upper class and

corporate elite. There is no certain and single solution with regards to

stopping crime, but there are ways to prevent them before things get out of

hand. In order for crime to be fought, people must become aware of the

existing laws and the crimes happening in their environment. Law enforcers

are a very important part of the society, because they can dictate what must

be avoided and decide what punishments to give to those who disobey.

Presently, the Philippines’ law enforcement suffers from numerous methods

of misconducts among its personnel. These greatly contribute to the

diminishing public trust and confidence of the citizens toward the police and

high crime rate in the country which the team wants to address. This study

intends to be able to explore crime management concepts such as decision

support system, mapping, analysis, management and geographic

information of crimes to amend community-based Philippine policing.

(Lorenzana 2015)
 10

Related Studies

Foreign

Several studies show a beneficial effect of PKOs. However, by looking

at individual effect pathways (intensity, duration, recurrence, diffusion) in

isolation they underestimate the peacekeeping impact of PKOs. We propose

a novel method to evaluate the combined impact across all pathways based

on a statistical model of the efficacy of UN PKOs in preventing the onset,

escalation, continuation, and recurrence of internal armed conflict. We run a

set of simulations based on the statistical estimates to assess the impact of

alternative UN policies for the 2001–13 period. If the UN had invested US

200 billion in PKOs with strong mandates, major armed conflict would have

been reduced by up to two thirds relative to a scenario without PKOs and

150,000 lives would have been saved over the 13- year period compared to

a no-PKO scenario. UN peacekeeping is clearly a cost-effective way of

increasing global security. (Hultman, 2018)

The conflict in Syria has led to a devastating humanitarian situation

with several hundred thousands of people killed and over four million

refugees. What would have happened if the United Nations Security Council

had managed to come to an agreement and deployed a peacekeeping

operation early in the conflict? How much sooner would the conflict have

ended? How would such a deployment have affected the security situation in
 11

the region in the future? For policymakers, such counterfactual questions are

of critical importance when deciding on future routes for peacekeeping. This

paper evaluates the effect of peacekeeping operations (henceforth PKOs)

and their potential for reducing conflict by constructing and estimating the

counterfactual global incidence of internal armed conflict under different

peacekeeping policies.

This exercise is complicated since PKOs affect conflict through several

pathways. PKOs increase the duration of post-conflict peace (Doyle and

Sambanis 2006a; Fortna 2004, 2008); reduce the lethality of ongoing

conflicts (Hultman, Kathman and Shannon 2014); increase the chances of

conflict ending (Doyle and Sambanis 2000); and prevent contagion to

neighboring countries (Beardsley 2011). Moreover, the impact of a PKO is

likely to last for a long time. Internal conflicts that break out typically last 5–

10 years, and the risk of conflict recurrence is high for at least a decade

after the war ends. Recurrent wars also tend to drag out for years. A

successful conflict prevention will benefit the country and its neighborhood

for decades relative to the counterfactual. Several studies have shown a

beneficial effect of PKOs along one of these pathways. However, no study

assesses the total effect of PKOs along all pathways. As we demonstrate

below, they consequently severely under-estimate the benefits of PKOs.

(Hultman, 2018)
 12

They propose a novel approach to avoid these shortcomings, and

thereby obtain a much more precise assessment of the efficacy of PKOs. This

entails using simulations to assess the joint effect of different PKO policies

along all these pathways. We build on the knowledge accumulated through

previous studies on peacekeeping and the risk of armed conflict by first

training our model by estimating the effect of PKO budgets and the type of

mandate using data for the 1960–2013 periods. Based on those findings, we

simulate the total impact of peacekeeping by specifying five scenarios

reflecting different potential policies regarding how much to spend on

peacekeeping, what mandates to provide, and which countries to target. To

present our results, we estimate the impact of these peacekeeping scenarios

for the 2001–2013 period. An advantage of this procedure over standard

regression models is that it allows us to compare our predictions with the

actual occurrence of conflict for the same period, thus creating a

counterfactual comparison of recent history. We are also able to compare

the effect of our predicted PKO scenarios with the real PKO commitments

during this period. (Hultman, 2018)

Our findings indicate that peacekeeping is much more effective than

found in previous studies. In a scenario where the UN completely shuts

down its peacekeeping practice from 2001 and onwards, we estimate that 3–

4 more countries had been in major conflict in 2013 relative to what the

world saw given the actual level of peacekeeping activity.1 The effect of
 13

peacekeeping in the short run is to limit the amount of violence, but we also

find clear evidence that less violent conflicts are easier to end conclusively a

few years down the road. In a given year, this means that for each conflict

that the UN manages to transform from a major conflict to a minor one,

another conflict ends. (Hultman, 2018)

Local

The PNP expressly states that peace and order and public safety can

be assured only with the active involvement of the community (Domingo

Almase, 2013). The 1987 Philippine Constitution, notably the Declaration of

Principles and the State of strategies commands that the prime obligation of

the administration is to serve and secure the general population (Desierto,

2010). The administration may call upon the general population to protect

the State, and all nationals might be required under conditions gave by law,

to render a man, military or ordinary administration (Chadwick & May,

2003).

The PNP recognized the role of Village Tanods, Bantay Bayan, Civilian

Volunteer Organizations (CVO), Villages Auxiliaries, Non-Government

Organizations (NGO) and people's organizations as Force Multipliers in the

Fight against criminality, insurgency, and terrorism (Pena, 2007). These

organizations are also valuable partners of the government in community

development. The PNP shall have the following powers and functions:
 14

Enforce all laws and ordinances relative to the protection of lives and

properties; Maintain peace and order and take all necessary steps to ensure

public safety; Investigate and prevent crimes, effect the arrest of criminal

offenders, bring offenders to justice and assist in their prosecution; Exercise

the general powers to make arrest, search and seizure in accordance with

the Constitution and pertinent laws; Detain an arrested person for a period

not beyond what is prescribed by law, informing the person so detained of

all his rights under the constitution; Issue licenses for the possession of

firearms and training and operations of security agencies, and to security

guards and private detectives, for the practice of their professions; and

Perform such other duties and exercise all other functions as may be

provided by law. Furthermore, Executive Order (EO) No. 546 authorized the

PNP to deputize the village tanods as force multipliers in the implementation

of the peace and order plan, subject to the occurrence of the appropriate

Local Chief Executive through the Local Peace and Order Council (LPOC)

(Gustaitis & Guttieri, 2007).

More recently, with the EO 773, it is incumbent upon the PNP enhance

its operational procedures on community safety and security system in order

to addresses criminality, Internal Security Operation (ISO) and terrorism

problems by establishing Neighborhood Support Groups (NSG) through

Village Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT) operatives, peace partners, and

friends to achieve peace and order throughout the country (Lopez, 2013).
 15

Under the authority of the National Peace and Order Council and the

Philippine National Police, the BPAT was created as the primary operators to

conduct Community-Oriented Placing and Public Safety System.

The BPAT is composed of the PNP supervisor, the Village Chairman, Ex-O,

Village Tanod (sectoral representative and police auxiliaries) the BPAT

conducts peacekeeping activities in association with the various sectors of

the community and ensure their continuous support towards the

maintenance of peace and order and safety (Sanchez, 2017). Their goal is to

have a peaceful and orderly community, which is organized and responsive

to the safety and security needs of its citizenry in cooperation with the local

police (Last, 2000). The BPAT as the prime movers of the BPO will render

services tailor-made for the community where they belong and function.

The BPAT will focus on the three general endeavors, which are:

security services focused on the proactive community based policing system,

conflict resolution through Village Justice System and crisis management,

which includes disaster mitigation. The satisfactory rating of BPAT still needs

immediate and further improvement. While various attempts in the past

have been made to address this concern, much effort has yet to be done.

The search for more effective, efficient and relevant mechanisms to improve

its performance is much desired. (Sanchez, 2017)

 16

Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

This study is anchored on Crime Pattern Theory is a way of explaining

why crimes are committed in certain areas. Crime is not random, it is either

planned or opportunistic. According to the theory crime happens when the

activity space of a victim or target intersects with the activity space of an

offender. A person's activity space consists of locations in everyday life, for

example home, work, school, shopping areas, entertainment areas etc.

These personal locations are also called nodes. The course or route a person

takes to and from these nodes are called personal paths. Personal paths

connect with various nodes creating a perimeter. This perimeter is a person's

awareness space.

Crime Pattern Theory claims that a crime involving an offender and a

victim or target can only occur when the activity spaces of both cross paths.

Simply put crime will occur if an area provides opportunity for crime and it

exists within an offender's awareness space. Consequently, an area that

provides shopping, recreation and restaurants such as a shopping mall has a

higher rate of crime. This is largely due to the high number of potential

victims and offenders visiting the area and the various targets in the area. It

is highly probable that an area like this will have a lot of car theft because of

all the traffic in and out of the area. It is also probable that people may fall

victim of purse snatching or pick pocketing because victims typically carry

 17

cash with them. Therefore, crime pattern theory provides analysts an

organized way to explore patterns of behavior. Criminals come across new

opportunities for crime every day. These opportunities arise as they go to

and from personal nodes using personal paths. For example, a victim could

enter an offender's awareness space by way of a liquor store parking lot or a

new shopping center being built. If the shopping center is being built in an

area where crime occurs a couple of miles away, chances are it will exist in

some if not all offender's awareness space. This theory aids law enforcement

in figuring out why crime exists in certain areas. It also helps predict where

certain crimes may occur.

This study is based on the concept of the effectiveness of Barangay

Peacekeeping Operation as implemented by the Barangay Peacekeeping

Action Team. The Barangay Peacekeeping Operations is a comprehensive,

and catch-all-anti criminal strategy that seeks to empower all stakeholders

to share the responsibility of peacekeeping and other maintenance towards

self-policing.

The Input of this Study would be the Profile of the respondents and the

Process would be based in the data gathered from our respondents by the

use of researchers made questionnaire and our output would be our

proposed enhancement program.

The schematic diagram serves as a flow chart of the study that

illustrates the processes which the study will undergo. The first box
 18

represents the profiled variables of the respondents as to age, sex, civil

status, and highest educational attainment. The second box that contains

the effectiveness of Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT) as

perceived by the residents of Purok Perlas, Barangay Taft Surigao City and,

while the third box is the enhancement program which is the outcome of the

study.

1. Profile of the 2. The Effectiveness of

Respondents Barangay
Peacekeeping Action
1.1 Age Team in terms of:
1.2 Sex
1.3 Civil Status 2.1 Community
1.4 Highest Partnership
Educational Attainment 2.2 Crime
Prevention
 19

Figure 1. Schematic Diagram

of the Study

3. Enhancement
Program

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to find out the Effectiveness of Barangay Peacekeeping

Action Team in Purok Perlas Barangay Taft, Surigao City as perceived by its

residents.

This study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:

1.1 Age

1.2 Sex

1.3 Civil Status

1.4 Highest Educational Attainment

 20

2. To what Extent is the effectiveness of Barangay Peacekeeping Action

Team in Purok Perlas Barangay Taft, Surigao City in terms of:

2.1 Community Partnership

2.2 Crime Prevention

3. Is there a significant difference on the perception of the respondents

on the Effectiveness of Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team in Purok

Perlas Barangay Taft, Surigao City when they are grouped according to

their profiled variables?

4. Based on the findings, what enhancement program can be proposed ?

Hypothesis

Problems 1, 2 and 4 are hypothesis free, while, problem 3 is

hypothesized as to:

HO: There is no significant difference on the perception of the respondents

on the effectiveness of Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT) in Purok

Perlas Barangay Taft, Surigao City when they were grouped according to

their profiled variables.

Scope and Limitations of Study

This study will be limited only on the Effectiveness of Barangay

Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT) in Purok Perlas Barangay Taft, Surigao

 21

City and its basis for proposing an enhancement program. The respondents

of this study will be the residents of Purok Perlas of Barangay Taft, Surigao

City. This Study will be conducted in Purok Perlas of Barangay Taft, Surigao

City. This study is made in the first and second semester of the Academic

Year 2020 - 2021

Significance of the Study

The researchers believed that the study has its important contribution

and benefits to the following group of people.

SJTIT Administration this study will give knowledge to the school

administrator in uplifting the capability of the students to study such cases.

Barangay Officials the government officials who are in line with the

commitment to achieve a peace and safety community would be guided on

how they are going to make effective rates and regulations as well as their

necessary actions toward the community safety.

Community this study will make them more educated about maintenance of

peace and order. To awakened their mind that the relationship between the

peacekeepers and the community is essential to improve crime prevention

and maintenance of peace.

 22

Future Researchers the researchers will be provided the insights of the

results of this study, where they would be guided the information's from this

study.

Definition of Terms

For the study to be more understandable, the following terms are

hereby defined as used in the Study:

Armistice- Is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is

not necessarily the end of war, as it may constitute only a cessation of

hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace.

Assault- Is the act of inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact

upon a person.

BIN- Barangay Information/Intelligence Network or BIN is used to gather

or collect information in the community also known as “Eyes and Ears” in

the Barangay or anything that can affect the peace and order in the

community.

BPAT- Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team. BPAT was created as the

primary operators to conduct community-oriented policing and public safety

system pursuant to the authority of the National Peace and Order Council

(NPOC) and the PNP.

 23

BPKO- The Barangay Peacekeeping Operations is a comprehensive, and

catch-all anti-crime strategy that seeks to empower all stakeholders to share

the responsibility of peacekeeping and order maintenance towards self-

policing, he explained in his news release.

Bravery- Is the quality or state of having or showing mental or moral

strength to face danger, fear or difficulty.

Child in Conflict with the Law- Defined as anyone under 18 who comes

into contract with the justice system as a result of being suspected or

accused of committing an offence.

Child at risk- Defined with a variety of different indicators, including having

limited reading proficiency, having experienced abuse or trauma, having

disability or illness.

Civilian- Is a person who is not a member of the police, the armed forces,

or a fire department.

Crime Prevention- Is a synergistic partnership between the community and

the Philippine National Police.

Confidence Schemes- Is an attempt to defraud a person or group after

first gaining their trust.

Conflict- Is a clash of interest. The basis of conflict may vary but it is

always a part of society.

 24

Crime- Is an act or omission that constitutes an offense that may be

prosecuted by the state and is punishable by law.

Crime prevention- Is the attempt to reduce and deter crime and criminals.

It is applied specifically to efforts made by governments to reduce crime,

enforce the law, and maintain criminal justice.

Criminality- Is a behavior that is contrary to or forbidden by criminal law.

Empirical Evidence- Is an information received by means of the senses,

particularly by observation and documentation of patterns and through

experimentation.

Environment- Is a place where different things are such as swampy or hot

environment.

Evolution- Is change in the heritable characteristics of biological

populations over successive generations.

Executive Order No. 546- Authorized the PNP to deputize the barangay tanods

as force multipliers in the implementation of the peace and order plan subject to

the concurrence of the appropriate Local Chief Executive to Local Peace and Order

Council (LPOC).

Fraud- Is a wrongful act or criminal deception intended to result in financial

or personal gain.
 25

Gang- Refers to a group of a person organized for common purpose which

often involves violation of law.

LPOC- Local Peace and Order Council

NGO- Non-Government Office.

Peacekeeping- Comprises activities intended to create conditions that

favour lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces

civilian and battlefield deaths and reduces risk of renewed warfare.

Peer Group- Is a social group consisting of people who are equal in such

respect as age, education, or social class

Pickpocketing- Is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or

other valuables from the person or a victim’s pocket without them noticing

the theft at the time.

Poverty- Is the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material

possession or money.

Purok- Politico-geographic subdivisions that make up a barangay

Recurrence- Is a new occurrence of something that happened or appeared

before.
 26

Republic Act 7610- Is an act providing for stronger deterrence and special

protection of children against child abuse, exploitation and discrimination,

and for other purposes.

Violence- Is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage or

destroy.

Youthful Offender- Refer to a child, minor or youth including one who is

emancipated in accordance with the law, and Under Philippine law: over nine

but under eighteen years of age at the time the offense is committed.