Peace and order are mentioned and implied in the Bible so many times. Psalm
4:8 says, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make
me dwell in safety.” This means that peace and order within an individual and a
group of people are being given by God and anything that destroys them is of
the devil. During the time of Adam and Eve, there were harmony, peace and order
among the living things in the Garden of Eden until the devil tempted Eve and
Adam to disobey God’s order. This had caused the disharmony, disunity and
disorder among the living things in the world today. When Adam and Eve were
casted out from the Garden of Eden, which has already been locked and strictly
guarded by Angels, they lived outside the garden and faced hardships with the
peace and order constantly threatened.
Years passed by and the people have multiplied and were scattered on
the face of the earth; they made different groups among themselves and each established
set of rules that people could follow based from the people’s aspirations,
ideals and goals. Records show that people within a group or society throughout
the history have incorporated in their laws the pursuit of peace and order
because these two comprise the radical human ideals needed for the stability
and mobility of a society. It can be inferred thus that these two are very
important goals of a society that must always be pursued to attain the standard
status for the optimum benefits. But while this status remained vague without
definite formula for attainment, keepers of peace and order just constantly
enforcing these two by trying to control or curb criminalities and other
destructive factors through reactive and proactive measures and actions that
were devised for such ends.
During the Philippine pre-colonial era, the people living in the
various settlements in the Philippine islands were culturally linked with other
Asian civilizations that form kingdoms, dynasties and empires. These civilizations
were indicative of widespread established systems of justice and protection of lives
and properties as well as sense of collective security. These concepts are
being inherent in a family with parents as rulers and children as followers.
The family is a microcosm of a broader civil organization called community,
society or nation. The Philippine pre-colonial independent barangays, villages,
tribes and confederations were naturally and socially endowed with these
characteristics with datus or rajas as rulers. Each barangay have one datu that
functions as keeper of peace and order, creator and implementer of laws, chief judge
during trials, etc. The Laguna Copperplate Inscription; as an oldest historical
record of the Philippines dated 900 AD evidenced that the pursuit of justice,
peace and order was already extant in the Philippines as early as 900 AD. The
basis for judging though was very subjective through the practice of trial by
ordeal, which was due to the lack of objective approach.
When Spain colonized the Philippines from 1565 to 1898, they have
established a centralized colonial government which was composed of national
and local government under King Philip II of Spain through the viceroy of
Mexico and later on through the Governor General in 1821. The national
government maintained peace and order, collected taxes, built schools and other
public works. The national government under the Governor General had so much
power that could directly influence the officials in the local government units
from provinces to the barangay level. A province, headed by Alcalde Mayor, was
divided into pueblos or towns. Each town was headed by Gobernadorcillo who was
aided by four lieutenants. A
municipality that was not yet entirely under Spain was governed by the Corregidor
while the city was governed by the council called Cabildo which was composed of
the Mayor, Councilors, Police Chief and the Secretary. The pueblo or city was
subdivided into barrios and each barrio was headed by the Cabeza De Barangay or
Barangay Captain who was responsible for the peace and order of the barrio and the
recruitment of men for public works. The approach in maintaining peace and
order have changed a lot during the Spanish era. Instead of being vested on the
ruler alone, peace and order maintenance was put in the hands of the national and
local government units particularly in the hands of the Governor General, the
Nightmen that patrolled the streets of manila under the Alguacil Mayor in the
16th century, the Carabineros de Seguridad Publica that worked on
the outlaws of Spanish government in 1712, the Cuadrillo that enforced peace
and order in the countryside in 1836, the Civil Guard that was formed under a
Royal Decree took over the peacekeeping duties both in the national and local
levels in 1852, and the Barangay Captain that acted as the trusted local person
that could settle local conflicts and punish lawless elements in the barrio. The
maintenance of the peace and order during those times were, according to
history, were abused and misused by the authorities for the benefits of the
colonizers. This and the oppressions of Filipinos added to the factors that ignited
the resistance of the Filipinos against the Spanish colonial government. On May
1, 1898 the Battle of Manila Bay (Spanish-American war in the Philippines)
began which took place in Manila Bay. It was a fiery 1-day naval battle that
decimated the Spanish fleet in the pacific. It was the first battle of the
Spanish-American war campaign which gave the Americans their first victory
against Spain and the Philippines freedom from the Spaniards.
Just after the Spanish-American war (1898), the Philippine-American
(1899-1902) war or the Philippine Insurrection ensued in order to gain
Philippine independence from America after the Treaty of Paris turned over the
Philippines to America from Spain. The peace and order in the country remained
in chaos because of this war. The Philippines was controlled by the American
military government until 1901 when the Spooner Amendment was passed and
approved placing William H. Taft as the first civilian governor. The civil
government or Insular Government established the Insular Force in order to
maintain peace and order which then beefed up and became the Philippine
Constabulary (PC) through the Organic Act No. 175 as enacted by the Second
Philippine Commission on July 18, 1901. The first constabulary was led by the American
officers and former Spanish Civil Guards who primarily functioned as police law
enforcers and public safety officers. But under some circumstances it
functioned as a military organization to combat the rampant lawlessness and
violence perpetrated by tulisanes or bandits in the countryside. When the last
Filipino general was captured on April 13, 1902, the Philippine-American war
has ended. Some members of the resistance group that were not captured have
turned into bandits, quasi-religious
armed groups and other resistance groups that continued to roam in the
countryside. On July 4, 1902, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed a
full and complete pardon and amnesty to all the people in the Philippines who
participated in the Philippine Insurrection. In 1902, a provision under the
Philippine Bill 1902 (Cooper Act) required the complete restoration of peace
and order before the inauguration of the Philippine Assembly as proposed by the
Act, which was only happened on August 16, 1907 with the help of the peacekeeping
function of the constables. Aside from keepers of peace and order, these
constables were said to have also performed the duties of teachers, foresters,
midwives, doctors and sanitary inspectors.
In 1935, the 10-year transition Commonwealth government was formed
with Manuel L. Quezon as the president in order to prepare the Filipinos for
self-governance. The 1935 Constitution was created where the peace and order of
the public would be enforced by the national police as stated in Article XIV
section 9. But on the December of 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor that
marked the World War II in the Far East. The constabulary as keepers of peace
and order and the Commonwealth army prepared for war to defend the land under
the state of emergency declaration of U.S. President Roosevelt. The Japanese
relentless attacks on the Philippine airfields, naval bases and camps have crippled
the Commonwealth government forces and U.S. military in the Philippines. Quezon
and Osmeña (Vice President), escorted by troops, left the Philippines for
Australia and then to U.S. There they set up a government in exile. Gen.
Douglas Mc. Arthur, the commander of the USAFFE, also fled to Australia but promised
to return to regain the Philippines from the Japanese. After capturing the
Philippines, the Japanese established a puppet government under the presidency
of Jose P. Laurel. Peace and order in the country were in shambles as countless
skirmishes between Japanese troops and guerilla forces that remained loyal to
the United States have happened everywhere in the mountains and plains, towns and
villages. After about three years of Japanese occupation, Gen. Douglas McArthur
returned to the Philippines with more men and stronger force that defeated the
Japanese troops. The battle was not easy, the fighting were fierce and
disastrous for both sides as the Japanese Imperial General Staff decided the
Philippines as the final line of defense. The bloody fighting continued until September
2, 1945 when Japan finally surrendered formally.
During the aftermath of the WWII, peace and order must be the sweetest
words that could be heard by the people in the war-torn areas like the
Philippines. Peace and order condition of the Philippines must be restored to
enable immediate recovery of other aspects of the state, but the constables and
the armies have depleted in numbers with only few remaining personnel to work
on the maintenance of peace and order throughout the land, and the dearth need
to beef up the latter again have led to the many informal enlistees in order to
meet the demand for parrying problems that emerged after the war. On April 23,
1946, Manuel A. Roxas took office as the first president of the new republic,
the time when the Americans have left the government for the Filipinos which
was also the time when the left-wing started to take a perch on the Philippine
soil. Under the Roxas administration, the keepers of peace and order were
threatened by the emerging left-wing colored Hukbalahap group (Huks), which was
intensified by the alleged graft and corruptions of the government and abuses
of the Provincial Military Police. Consequently,
President Manuel A. Roxas issued E.O. No. 94 effecting the abolishment of the
Military Police Command which was then absorbed by the newly reorganized
Philippine Constabulary.
When President Elpidio Quirino succeeded Manuel A. Roxas, President
Quirino granted general amnesty for the Huks but was not successful in trying
to integrate the rebels into the society. After Elpidio Quirino, President
Ramon Magsaysay took office and used the Philippine Constabulary in addition to
the thorough eradication of corruption in the government as well as building
public works and giving the lands that benefitted the Huks and other Filipinos,
these have caused the disbandment of the Huks. Under the governance of the
Filipinos, the Philippines has able to maintain its economic stability even though
there were some smears of corruption after the zero-corruption of the Magsaysay
government. The Philippines has consistently maintained a considerably controllable condition of peace and order in the countryside
and major towns, and the general growth as a country. During the term of
President Ferdinand E. Marcos, a left-wing political party was founded from a
small discussion group organized by a student of the University of the
Philippines in the middle 60’s. In the latter part of the 60’s there were
upsurge of mass demonstrations and violence which led to the creation of the PC
Metropolitant Command under Executive Order 76 on July 14, 1967 to complement
local police action in repressing the unrest. The said command became the PC’s
striking force conducting 24/7 patrol in the entire Metro Manila. On September
21, 1972, President Marcos declared Martial Law. President Marcos used the
Constabulary and the major military services to answer insurgency threat while
trying to reorganize government machinery to effect his desired changes in the
social, economic and political structures. The approach in the maintenance of
peace and order has become dependent on the criminalities, disorders, agitations
and desires of the state. On March 21, 1974, President Marcos approved the
Presidential Decree 421 unifying all the police, fire and jail officers in
Metro Manila to form Metropolitant Police Force (MPF) under the PC Metrocom.
The MPF followed the constitutional mandate for an integrated national police
force, and finally on August 8, 1975, Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 765
creating the Integrated National Police under the Philippine Constabulary and
the police officers as components.
After the People’s Revolution in 1986 that dethroned the Martial Rule.
The 1986 Philippine Constitution was formed. It has provision for the creation
of Philippine National Police (PNP) and in 1991, the Republic Act 6975 (Department
of the Interior and Local Government Act of 1990) was passed to create the
Philippine National Police. On January 21, 1991, the PC and the INP were
officially abolished and replaced by the PNP. Amendments were done in the R.A.
6975 through the enactment of R.A. 8551 (PNP Reform and Reorganization Act of
1998) to make the PNP more responsive, effective and relevant police force that
is community and service-oriented and fully accountable in the performance of
its action. The peace and order maintenance was supplemented in the barangay
level through the creation of barangay tanods in pursuant to the R.A. 1760 or
Local Government Code of 1991. The existence of barangay tanods or barangay
watchmen would give the barangay the initiative to administer police functions
that cannot be immediately discharged by the police provided the sole purpose
thereof would be to maintain the peace and order by deterring criminalities and
other atrocities through reactive and proactive measures.
Peace and order reside in the human ideals, and are fundamental
elements in the building blocks of a typical social organization. But the
wicked one was also dispelled from the Garden of Eden and affected the world
throughout the generations by assuming the drags in the pursuit of human goals
and standard social condition. Nevertheless, there were remedies and answers
made available by God, just like what was cited in the first paragraph, that
humans can adopt to treat these human and social disorders or problems. One of
these would be the continuous keeping of peace and order in the society. While
this article shows the history of how peace and order have suffered and how
they were pursued by the people to restore them, the maintenance of peace and
order today have extended its machinery in the grassroots which have induced
the creation of the barangay watchmen to aid the police in enforcing peace and
order in the barangay level following the facts that the barangay serves as the
bigger home of an individual next to his/her residential house that must also
be safeguarded and the barangay as the primary planning and implementing unit of
government policies, plans, programs, projects and activities.
