Key offices and agencies mandated to fight the illegal drug problem in this Negros Oriental capital are coming up with a set of guidelines that will synchronize their programs and projects.
Officials from the City Drug Abuse Council (CADAC), City Peace and Order Council, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Dumaguete Police Station, City Social Welfare and Development Office, City Health Office, and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology met on Friday to draw up a plan that will guide them to address the problems on illegal drugs holistically.
“We need to go in one direction, to synchronize and harmonize our efforts even though we have different functions and roles in addressing these issues that will result in the declaration of drug-free barangays,” Councilor Rey Lawas, CADAC focal person, said.
Lawas noted that law enforcement, treatment, rehabilitation, and after-care are functions and roles that must complement each other.
The current situation, however, is that these agencies and offices are undertaking their mandates individually, resulting in confusing or mismatched data, he said.
He said it slows down the process of meeting the requirements for declaring a village drug-cleared or drug-free.
Data presented by the PDEA and the police showed that out of the city’s 30 villages, only Poblacion 4, 5, and 7 are drug-free, Lawas said.
This means that during the PDEA validation, no drug pushers and users were identified and there are no more supplies of illegal substances.
Barangays Poblacion 3 and 6 and Pulantubig, meanwhile, are drug-cleared.
Aside from the absence of pushers, users and supply, a drug-cleared village has anti-drug programs, compulsory treatment and rehabilitation processing, and officials actively involved in maintaining the drug-liberated status.
Lawas said drug clearing operations are ongoing in Mangnao, Camanjac and Banilad which have identified drug users or pushers. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)
