Earning the nod of the authorities in charge of the Barangay Drug Clearing Program is no easy feat.
Last week, after a painstaking, evidence-based process and final deliberation, the Regional Oversight Committee (ROC) declared barangay Cabugao in Bato town as cleared of illegal drugs.
Together with the barangay council and focal persons of the municipality’s BDCP committee, Chairman Nenita T. Taraya received the coveted certification from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) at the conclusion of a Zoom meeting at the agency’s provincial office.
Of the 27 barangays in the town, ten are considered drug-free, with 17 initially tagged as affected by the scourge of illegal drugs.
Six years after the Duterte administration began its war on drugs under Oplan Tokhang and the Catanduanes provincial government launched its own Community-Based Treatment and Rehabilitation Program, 16 of the 17-drug affected villages in Bato have now been cleared, leaving only one – Tamburan – as the focus of the administration of Mayor Juan Rodulfo.
Coincidentally, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has launched a new anti-drug campaign, the Buhay Ingatan, Droga’y Ayawan (BIDA) Program.
The revitalized anti-drug advocacy campaign of the government aims to reduce drug demand in the communities by harnessing the support of LGUs, national government agencies (NGAs), private sectors, faith-based organizations (FBOs), and civil society organizations (CSOs).
All LGUs, from the province down to the barangays, have been directed to formulate their local anti-drug plan of action (LADPA) and barangay anti-drug plan of action (BADPA) and submit the same before the end of December 2022.
The local governments are supposed to include in their respective plans all initiatives and efforts that will strengthen their campaign against illegal drugs and specify programs and activities that shall be given budget allocation in their respective annual budget relative to anti-illegal drug efforts.
DILG Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. stressed in his message during the BIDA launching that the Local Anti-Drug Plan of Action shall include the anti-illegal drugs situation of the locality for accurate decision-making; priority anti-illegal drugs issues and challenges, prioritizing supply and demand reduction; objectives to address the local issues and challenges; critical policies, programs, projects, services and activities (PPPSAs) for the anti-illegal drugs issues; and funding requirements of the PPPSAs.
With the guidance of the PDEA, the local police and the municipal government, the barangays will surely be able to craft the needed policies, programs, projects and activities needed to address the issue of illegal drugs.
What needs to be carefully prepared and verified is the prevailing anti-illegal drugs situation in each of the 315 barangays in Catanduanes.
For the BIDA program to succeed, the barangay council should accurately reflect in the plans the actual situation as far as illegal drugs issue is concerned.
Thus, the BADPA should list all suspected pushers and users of illegal drugs regardless of their status in life and their relationships with the council members.
For several years now, the public have been surprised every now and then by the arrest of elective and appointive barangay officials in anti-illegal drug operations.
Just recently, a barangay kagawad from Tominawog. San Andres who had surrendered during Tokhang was apprehended after a court-ordered search of his residence yielded eight (8) sachets of suspected shabu.
The Tribune tried to contact the concerned barangay chairman to ask whether she or the other council members knew beforehand their colleague’s drug-peddling activity but the official could no longer be contacted on her cellphone,
It is in this area that the character and integrity of barangay officials will be tested: whether they would leave out names of their family members, relatives and political supporters or spare no one in the barangay’s anti-drug program for the benefit of their constituents.