Yorme on a roll

We had a good laugh at our Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last Wednesday when the usually articulate Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso, a.k.a. Isko Moreno, found himself suddenly at a loss for words. Mayor Domagoso was impassioned in reassuring both parents and children that there are safe zones in all city public and private schools in Manila amid the rising violent incidents involving students as culprits or victims.

For brevity’s sake, let us just call him “Yorme” by which he became more popularly known after he first got elected mayor of Manila in 2019. “Yorme” is slang derived from pronouncing mayor as “meyor.” Yorme disclosed the city government intends to procure and supply all 104 public elementary and high schools in Manila with security check gadgets and equipment.

“Yung nag-toot-toot, toot-toot?” Yorme asked us, laughing while he was gesturing. “And also, the one that goes around when you enter through them, yung nag toot-toot din,” Yorme added. Obviously, he meant metal detectors and x-ray scanners, respectively.

It was just a case of memory lapse for the 51-year-old former matinee idol-turned-politician. As a father of five children, the 51-year-old Yorme echoed the sentiments of fellow parents in keeping their children safe and protected when they leave home to attend school. But the spate of violent incidents involving students in and outside their schools that took place across the country has become a worrisome trend.

Yorme was not joking when he also announced the maximum penalty of expulsion for students who will be caught with guns, knives and other deadly weapons or get involved in rumbles and bullying inside and outside premises in all Manila schools. The offenders will also suffer a ban or being denied acceptance in all Manila schools, all the way to the two city-run Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) and the University of the City of Manila.

Under the proposed measure, recorded cases will be forwarded to the Manila Department of Social Welfare for coordination with the Schools District Office for appropriate action on the process of expulsion. To implement these punitive actions, Yorme disclosed he has asked all school superintendents and school administrators all over the city of Manila to draft their respective rules and procedures.

Yorme explained his idea of the expulsion proceedings will be determined by school administrators and will be submitted to the city council for legislation. To further bolster this, Yorme will ask the City Council of Manila, headed by Vice Mayor Angela Lei “Chi” Atienza, to pass a local ordinance to make its effective coverage citywide.

“We are not denying them education. They can still enroll in nearby cities, or maybe they can afford to go to a private school, but not here in Manila,” Yorme pointed out. While education is the right and privilege of each Filipino youth, Yorme underscored it also carries the responsibility of allowing fellow youth to enjoy the same right and privilege.

As the father of the families residing in Manila, Yorme cited having issued last week his Executive Order (EO) No. 29, or the Manila Schools Safety Initiative, to address armed violence and mass casualty events in schools as well as in public places in the country’s capital city. He launched this localized violence-prevention program during his state of the city address (SOCA) on the occasion of Manila’s 455th founding anniversary at Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park.

EO 29 was issued two days after the June 22 shooting spree done by two male students in Tacloban National High School that killed three and injured 20 of their schoolmates. “With regard to what happened in Tacloban, I, as mayor of Manila, wholeheartedly express my condolences to the families of the victims of the mass shootings,” Yorme declared in his SOCA.

Yorme announced his EO 29 created a Safety Task Force in Manila to serve as the city’s coordinating body for violence prevention, threat assessment, school safety and emergency preparedness.

For this purpose, Yorme directed the Manila Police District (MPD) and the Schools Division Office of the City of Manila to hold a joint citywide school safety audit within 90 days, form threat assessment teams and crack down on illegal firearms and all deadly weapons that might be sneaked into school premises.

“We are serious about this. Kids, do not involve yourselves with rumbles and bullying because there will be no future for you in Manila. I’d rather be strict to a few to protect the many,” Yorme stressed.

The city mayor also designated barangays as part of the first responders of the Safety Task Force. “All barangays are directed to support violence prevention initiatives, encourage responsible reporting of threats and illegal firearms and maintain coordination with local police and school authorities,” Yorme’s EO 29 stated.

“Our policy is simple: remove illegal guns. Act on every warning sign. Prepare every school. Manila will not wait for a tragedy before taking action,” Yorme assuaged his constituents.

Yorme alluded to the subsequent reported cases of several other school-based violence allegedly involving minor suspects classified by Republic Act (RA) 9344 as children in conflict with the law. With empathy to the parents of both the young offenders and their victims, Yorme declined to comment on the raging debate on RA 9344, specifically whether or not to amend the provision lowering the minimum age for criminal responsibility (MACR) set at 15 years old.

“Let Congress decide on that,” Yorme retorted on the RA 9344 debate.

He would have been a lawmaker when he ran but lost in the May 2016 senatorial elections. He made a successful comeback as mayor of Manila after his landslide victory against incumbent mayor Honey Lacuna in last year’s elections.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara, picking up Yorme’s initiatives, warned yesterday students may face possible expulsion or suspension if they post threats of violence online.

In his first term of office again at Manila City Hall, Yorme is on a roll.