Mayor Evelio Leonardia personally submitted to Director General Ronald
“Bato” Dela Rosa, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), the
accomplishment report of the City of Bacolod on its anti-illegal drugs
campaign.
Leonardia met with Dela Rosa recently at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame
to give to him a report on the accomplishment of the two pillars of the
city’s anti-drug campaign – the City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (CADAC) and
the Community Anti-Drug Coalition of Bacolod (CADCOB), a people’s
organization that helps the city on its war against drugs.
The reports of these two councils were also submitted to the Inter-Agency
Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD), composed of 41 government agencies.
In his report, Leoanardia said, because Bacolod City is very cooperative in
the serious conduct of the national government’s anti-drugs campaign, the
Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) chose Bacolod as the venue of the Philippine
celebration of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit
Trafficking (IDADAIT) on June 26, 2017.
DDB was very impressed with the 17,000 Bacoleños who participated in the
early morning walk and program.
Just recently, on March 10, 2018, the ICAD chose Bacolod as one of the key
cities to launch its town hall meeting called “Rehabinasyon,” a holistic
approach in eliminating the country’s drug problems that puts a premium on
the rehabilitation of drug surrenderers.
About 400 people attended the launch, which was held at the lobby of the
Bacolod City Government Center, composed of members of various sectors of
the society.
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Leonardia said one of the very first executive orders he issued when he
became mayor again in 2016, was to re-activate the CADAC, re-aligning its
composition, structures, and thrusts with that of ICAD.
The city also re-activated the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils (BADACs)
of the 61 barangays of Bacolod, and supported the Department of the
Interior and Local Government (DILG) in organizing the Mamamayang Ayaw sa
Anomalya, Mamamayang Ayaw sa Iligal na Droga (MASA MASID) Teams of all the
61 barangays.
As mandated by the DDB, the city focused its anti-drug campaign on barangay
drug-clearing. The Oversight Commitee, chaired by Philippine Drug
Enforcement Agency (PDEA), cleared three barangays of Bacolod in 2017 and
is now re-validating their drug-free status.
The CADAC, through the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) and DILG, are now
processing the bid of seven more barangays for drug-free declaration.
The CADAC, in cooperation with the DILG, the CADCOB, DepEd, and BADACs, are
regulary conducting information and education campaign in the grassroots,
schools, barangays, and other public places in the form of symposia,
lectures, and other activities.
The City Health Office, in cooperation with the Department of Health (DOH),
PNP, and the Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD,
spearheaded the assessment of drug surrenderers as to their degree on
drug-dependency and provided Community-Based Drug Rehabilitation Progam
using the modules provided by the DOH.
The drug surrenderers are also given after-care srrvices and given support
such as TESDA scholarships and livelihood fundings.
The CHO, in cooperation with the City Engineer’s Office, is working on the
plans of the city for a drug treatment or rehabilitation center, which will
be constructed with the assistance of the DOH or the DDB.
The BCPO and PDEA personnel have busted several drug pushers and apprhended
drug users.
“The focus of our city’s anti-drugs campaign is the barangays. We will
chase drug pushers out of the barangays, rehabilitate drugs users, provide
them knowledge and skills and livelihood so they can be productive members
of the society again,” Leonardia told Dela Rosa in his letter.
“We will continuously educate our young about the menace or drugs, and our
parents aout responsible parenthood, “he added.
“We will support the moves of the DILG and the PDEA to go after barangay
officials, who are not doing their anti-drug abuse campaign seriously, he
said.
“We will endeavor to declare as drug-free as many of our barangays as soon
as possible,” Leonardia said.*/ BACOLOD CITY PIO
