Two drug-related incidents that came on the heels of an anti-drug rally held in Fuente Osmeña, Cebu City in practically the same day? Coincidence or not, this only showed that the war against illegal drugs is far from over. The first was an embarrassment in the Capitol. Two security guards noticed two employees, a man and woman, reportedly in a pot session close to midnight inside the Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPD0).
It’s probably time for a surprise test of urine samples of provincial employees.
With security cameras in the hallways, and round-the-clock guards, two intrepid staffers found it worth the risk to slip into their workplace way past office hours for some hankypanky. Did they tell the guards they were doing overtime?
That the employees still got away after the guards spotted them made the breach of discipline even more laughable.
An in-house investigation is underway, with initial evidence of a shabu sniffing session held in the office. There’s not much time to hide evidence of narcotics in one’s bloodstream if a drug test is made immediately on the two suspects.
As if the Capitol hasn’t enough problems dealing with troublemakers in the provincial jail, it has to play hide-and-seek with errant employees who choose to get high in their cubicles.
Of a more serious nature is the death of a mother inside her home in Lapu-Lapu City last Thursday dawn.
The 42-year-old victim identified as Prima Paquibot Aying, a worker at an export firm, was killed when two gunmen, one of whom supposedly had links to the drug trade, strafed the house.
Instead of ducking for cover, like her husband, the woman stood up to dash upstairs to check on her sleeping children.
It may take some time before suspects Demetrio Malingin and his brother Jay are arrested by police for Aying’s murder.
Until then, her family remains in constant danger since the suspects and the Aying family have “blood feud” going on.
The two incidents were grim reminders that the drug menace is not easily wiped out by rah-rah rallies that bring together students, government workers and the police to make ceremonial commitments to stay away from drugs.
A real commitment and action is needed.
Teaching the value of good health and strong famly ties should start at the earliest school levels.
Parents are the first line of defense and positive action. They nurture and role model for their offspring. Schools reinforce that role.
The hardcore work of law enforcement remains the job of the police and the criminal justice system. In the war against drugs, all sectors are considered battlefronts.