Camp Dagohoy brings ‘Abante’

free services caravan to Dauis

CATARMAN DAUIS, Bohol, July 25 (PIA)—In a community that uses the police as a threat when their kids get into their temper tantrums, how do you bring the kids closer to the police?

In Catarman, Bohol Provincial Police Office brought in free ice cream, lugaw, free haircuts, free tooth extraction and dental services, entertainment from talented police officers and free slippers, school supplies and uniforms.

Part of the bandwagon of frontline services in time for the Police Community Relations Month in July, Camp Dagohoy also had a different package readied for adults: medical, dental and health services, eye check-up, legal aid, free blood sugar screening, vital signs, electrocardiogram, medical check-up and consultations, manicure and pedicure and hair dressing, haircut, free medicines as well as the much needed first aid and cardio pulmonary resuscitation training for basic life support.

That same day, residents including those from nearby barangays trooped to the Catarman Covered Court to avail of the services that do not usually come for free.

This is so far the biggest and the most participated police Abante Caravan in my experience, said a police staff at the Police Community Affairs Development Unit of the PNP, formerly called the PCR branch.

“We are now institutionalizing the PNP Abante caravan which we will bring to areas where we have a turn-over of newly built-houses for the poor,” shares Police Lieutenant Norman Nuez of the PCADU Unit in Camp Dagohoy.

As soon as the PNP and its donors complete the houses for the poor, they bring in the whole team and their allied supporters, professional organizations, institutions and well-meaning individuals to prop up the police services and the frontline government services accompanying the Abante Caravan.

Accompanying organization like Bohol Sandugo Lions Club, Bohol Medical Society, the Provincial Health Office, Medical outreach unit of the Capitol, Philippine Nurses Association, Jaycees, Rotarians, and other groups rendered services for the community.

In Bohol, it is not unusual for parents to tell kids with temper tantrums that they are calling the police to arrest them.

With this, police officers bared that this has become a challenge to be near kids, especially those who think that the police are out to catch them.

The issue then becomes amplified when the kid grows into adults, and with the distrust to officers in uniform behind their heads, problems in engaging communities to help in crime fighting has always been a challenge.

That is why we are starting to bring the police much closer to communities, as the country’s men in uniform attempt to commit to the transformation of the image of the PNP, said PLtCol Nuez. (PIABohol)

ICE CREAM, I SCREAMED. Kids flocked to the ice cream tub in the hope of getting a bit of cold refreshment during the hot morning of the Abante Caravan at the Catarman Covered Court, where the PNP brought in service teams to the barangay. (PIABohol)

MILK TOOTH. Dentists also explained to the parents why it is important to instill in their kids the idea of proper dental hygiene as the improper brushing practices can ruin the teeth growth and formation, resulting to expensive corrective measures. The PNP brought in dentists during their Abante caravan in Catarman. (PIABohol)