Center offers livelihood courses for drug users in Lucena

CONFESSED drug users and pushers sign attendance sheets in a government-sponsored symposium for their voluntary surrender in Lucena City. DELFIN T. MALLARI JR./INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON

LUCENA CITY—When policemen appeared in front of their house that morning early last month, Riza, 18, had expected that they would arrest her father.

“I know his drug-pushing activities. It has been our bread and butter for the past several years. But he is only [a] small-time [dealer],” Riza (not her real name), a college sophomore, said with a tinge of embarrassment and guilt.

Fortunately for her family, the lawmen were there not to serve an arrest warrant but as part of “Oplan Tokhang,” the government’s antidrug campaign where law enforcers visit suspected drug pushers and users to ask them to stop their illegal activities.

Riza recalled how the policemen ordered his father, who is in his early 40s, to stop selling drugs. “The order … came with a threat that something nasty might happen to him if he will not heed the advice. He was afraid, we were all afraid,” she said.

New life

In the past two months, at least 11 suspected key players in the local drug trade have been killed in police operations and at least 26 others by unidentified assassins, records from the Quezon police showed.

The day after the policemen’s visit, Riza’s father joined confessed drug pushers and users in a “mass surrender” ceremony that signaled the start of a new life for the family. His siblings, who are working abroad, pledged to help financially.

“My uncle promised him an initial capital to start a small business once he completed the course,” Riza said. Her father plans to take up a vocational course.

Since President Duterte assumed office, the number of enrollees and daily queries from applicants in Lucena Manpower Skills Training Center (LMSTC) has increased, said Criselda Cabangon David, coordinator of the government-run facility. “We believe that some of them were former pushers and users who wanted to reform,” she said.

LMSTC, which has partnered with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), offers courses on refrigeration and air-conditioning, welding, basic electrical and appliance repair, and baking, among others.

Skills training

Francia Britania Malabanan, acting head of the City Antidrug Abuse Council, said most drug victims wanted to reform, prompting the city government to prepare programs for their rehabilitation and alternative livelihood.

“We will bring the instructors, tools and equipment directly to the villages to encourage former drug pushers and users to change their lives and equip them with skills to become productive citizens,” said Councilor Nick Pedro, the project proponent.

Mayor Roderick Alcala lamented that the city government, just like any local government across the country, did not have enough funds for programs for drug victims as these were not included in the annual budget allocation.

“The mass surrender of drug victims is unprecedented …. Suddenly, they all want to change their lives for good. Our focus now is to assist them [as they reform] and [undergo] rehabilitation,” Alcala said.

Local health officials were studying the possibility of building a city-run drug rehabilitation facility instead of shouldering the cost of sending drug dependents to treatment centers.