Help make caskets, drug users told

DRUGS NO MORE Olongapo City Mayor Rolen Paulino leads the reading of an oath asking drug users and pushers, who turned themselves in to authorities in the city and nearby Subic town in Zambales province, to avoid illegal drugs. ALLAN MACATUNO / INQUIRER CENTRAL LUZON

OLONGAPO CITY—Confessed drug users and pushers have been asked to help the city government make caskets as part of their rehabilitation, to prove they were serious on abandoning their lifestyle.

“You will help the city government make caskets,” which are provided for free to residents who could not afford one for a deceased family member, Mayor Rolen Paulino said when he addressed 400 people who surrendered en masse on Friday.

“There were people who died because they didn’t have money to buy medicine. So how can their family afford a casket worth at least P20,000?” Paulino said. “This is going to be your source of livelihood.”

Then in jest, the mayor added, “If you don’t stop your old ways, you are going to use the casket you made yourself.”

The 400 people gathered at the city’s Rizal Triangle covered court were accompanied by village officials who convinced them to surrender.

The city government is also considering tapping those who have surrendered to make reusable bags, now that Olongapo is enforcing a ban on plastic bags.

“You were given a second chance to change for the sake of your family,” Paulino said.

A 16-year-old boy was among those who surrendered on Friday. “I started using shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) when I was 12. I know this won’t do me any good so I decided to surrender. I want to continue my studies,” he told the Inquirer.

Senior Supt. Jerry Sumbad, acting Olongapo City police chief, said he was happy that many heeded their call to surrender.

In Subic town on Friday, a mass surrender composed of 1,450 drug suspects took place in a covered court in Barangay Asinan Poblacion, said Subic Mayor Jay Khonghun.

As of Friday, 13,680 suspected users and pushers in Central Luzon had placed themselves under the custody of the police or the local governments.

The country has witnessed the mass surrender of drug users and small-time traders after President Duterte assumed office on June 30.

The President, during the campaign, had promised a no-nonsense, bloody war against illegal drugs.

As of last week, the Inquirer had recorded more than 200 drug suspects either killed in police operations or found dead, slain vigilante-style, around the country.

Mr. Duterte had also named six retired and active police officials as alleged protectors of big-time drug traffickers in the country. He said he would also identify mayors who have links to the illegal drug trade. Allan Macatuno, Inquirer Central Luzon