Rehab stressed in Ecija, Pampanga

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—There’s no pep talk about killing drug suspects when two provinces launched separate programs to support the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.

At a drug summit on Sept. 15 in Nueva Ecija, Gov. Czarina Umali said efforts should be exerted to lure addicts away from drugs.

“It should start through the effort of the police to identify users or pushers and [to] appeal to them to change their ways or surrender to authorities,” Umali said.

This should be followed by an evaluation by the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) so that users or pushers could get treatment and rehabilitation.

“There should be reformatory centers where they can be trained and given the opportunity to be productive members of society,” Umali said.

“Let all institutions and peace loving citizens embrace suspected pushers or users for the common good,” she added.

“This war on illegal drugs … should be a collaborative effort,” said Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Isidro Lapeña, who spoke at the forum.

In Pampanga, the provincial government has expanded the campaign against illegal drugs by recruiting 1,084 teachers and parents to monitor 11,387 users and confessed pushers who have surrendered since July.

They are joining 10,000 women and more than 8,000 barangay health workers who volunteered to help the barangay antidrug abuse councils (Badac) in 505 villages.

Vice Gov. Dennis Pineda, head of the provincial anti-illegal drugs campaign, also asked public school principals, heads of parent-teacher associations (PTA), mobile teachers and alternative learning coordinators to help identify drug pushers targeting schools.

“Let’s weed the pushers out of our communities,” the vice governor said at a forum at Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center here.

Josephine Gonzales, PTA president in Betis High School in Guagua town, said parents spend time in schools and familiarize themselves with teachers and students so they can help ferret out drug pushers.

Nida Aguas, who handles science classes, said a teacher can detect students who are on drugs through their behavior. “We should be able to save them, spend time to counsel them,” she said.

Gov. Lilia Pineda said teachers and parents should lose no time in reporting suspected drug users and pushers to save lives, even members of their own families. Tonette Orejas and Anselmo Roque, Inquirer Central Luzon