MOUNTAIN PROVINCE — In Bontoc, the best men for the job are women. What job? Patrolling the streets to help fight crime.
A group of women, aged 30 to 80, conduct nightly patrols in Samoki village in Bontoc to help implement the town’s curfew and liquor ban that start at 10pm.
“We volunteered and made a vow to [keep] the night watch for our children and grandchildren. We do not really get tired because it is for our children,” said Cecilia Ofo-ob in this Philippine Daily Inquirer report.
Ofo-ob is already 70 years old, but she vows to continue doing the rounds as long as her body allows it.
Armed with only flashlights, the 12 women in the brigade take turns in patrolling the areas where most of the town’s pubs and shops are located.
“We warn them on the first round. The stores should be closed and they should have stopped drinking when we return,” said Caridad Fersway, a 60-year-old grandmother.
Brigade head Caroline Castañeda explained that there used to be around 60 of them in the group back in 2002, but the number has declined over the years.
The group is composed of volunteers, and the funds they receive from the government are just enough for uniforms, flashlights and batteries.
They once received stun guns and truncheons as donation from a conerned citizen, but the women said that they prefer not to hurt anyone.
SPO2 Gilbert Batane of the Bontoc police force said that the elderly women had made people more cooperative.
By the time that the police force patrols the town at midnight, nobody would be seen loitering in the streets.
Mothers and grandmothers, how will we discipline the world without you?
