TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Members of the City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (CADAC) headed by Mayor Ferdinand B. Tubban, the city police and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) met with barangay captains and other members of the Barangay Anti-drug Abuse Councils (BADACs) on March 10, 2017 purposely to spur the latter to intensify their campaign against the drug menace in their respective communities.
Tubban impressed upon the BADACs specially the barangay captains to step up and guard their communities considering that the city police force in the city badly lacks personnel.
“That’s why you have the tanods. You challenge the tanods to do their best,” Tubban told the barangay captains.
Citing the assessment of the police, Tubban told the BADACs that the drug problem has been abated but that there is still a lot to be done.
Kalinga DILG Drug Program Focal Person Helen Lacuesta told the BADACs that they are the frontliners in the fight against drugs and should therefore be functional.
She informed BADACs that they are supposed to conduct meetings at least once a month to plan and strategize their activities.
Newly installed Tabuk City Chief of Police Jacob Dangpason told the barangay captains that under the revived Operation Tokhang, barangay officials will have to be present during Operation Tokhang in their communities to avoid suspicions of the employment of illegal means during the operations.
For his part, PO3 Alvius Cordero, Tabuk City Police Oplan Double Barrel team leader, informed the BADACs that the activities of the riding in tandem assassins is not part of Operation Tokhang and that if they spot these people, they should report to the police.
“The Tabuk City police has no record of killings when it operates,” Cordero alleged.
Tubban reacted that if the BADACs and the tanods work hand in hand, there will be no way the riding in tandem could penetrate their communities.
In the face of information from the members of the Rehabilitators Against Illegal Drugs Entities for a Reformed Society (RAIDERS), the group composed of LGU employees and clergy implementing the Community-based Rehabilitation Program (CBRP) of the national leadership, that the attendance of surrenderers in their activities leaves much to be desired, the officials urged the BADACs to support the program by ensuring the attendance of the surrenderers.
Tubban told the barangay officials that they should allocate the mandated amount for anti-drug activities since the drug problem is a grave concern.
City Local Government Operation Officer Mediatrix Alino informed the barangay officials that their budgets for drug-related activities should be proportionate with the gravity of the problem in their barangay even as she warned them that the DILG will monitor their budgets for the purpose.
City Anti-illegal Drugs Task Force Chairperson Alma Sandra Uyam informed the BADACs that part of the CADAC action plan is to enlist the active participation of local churches as they assist the drug surrenderers in their journey towards reformation.
“For this noble purpose, church leaders are provided with a list of their members who voluntarily surrendered under Project Tokhang and their corresponding degree of affectation,” Uyam said. **By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
