PANABO CITY (14 November) -- The city government of Panabo launched recently the Katawhan sa Barangay, Kalinaw Padasigon (Kabarkada) as part of the city's peace and order campaign.

Guesting in Talakayan sa Panabo, Panabo City Vice Mayor Rupeto B. Cagape said KABARKADA is meant to drum up local support to the peace and order campaign of not just the local government but the national government as well.

KABARKADA augurs well with the national government's call for the local government to institute local defense system against terrorism and insurgency.

The military is also counting on the grassroots level defense system as a "multiplier effect" to protect communities.

The KABARKADA has been organized in coordination with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the City Disaster and Coordinating Council, the Philippine National Police, City Peace and Order Council, Anti-Drug Abuse Council and the Movement against Crime, among others.

Cagape cited KABARKADA as a means to also curb drug abuse problem which has affected barangays San Pedro, Gredu, New Pandan, Sto. Nino, New Visayas, J.P. Laurel, San Vicente, and San Francisco, and two other barangays of the city.

Police Inspector Mario B. Galendes in the same forum however said the Panabo City Police Office had yet to monitor presence of big-time drug pushers in the area.

Galendes bared that supply of illegal drugs sold in the city were found to be coming from Cotabato.

Galendes, however, failed to give the number of persons apprehended due to illegal drug use.

Panabo City government is also working with non-government organizations in addressing drug problems and preventing onslaught of such especially at the barangay level.

Dr. Aida Barredo, City Anti-Drug Abuse Council president in the same forum, called on parents to seriously take their parental roles and look into the affairs of their children.