In his desire to make Manila the first-ever drug-free city in the country, Mayor Joseph E. Estrada has ordered the revitalization of antidrug abuse councils in the city’s 896 barangays, especially those that have been inactive and not functioning well.
Estrada made the move in the wake of President Duterte’s recent decision to turn over the government’s antidrug war to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) amid the allegations of abuse against the Philippine National Police.
While each barangay in the city already has an organized Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Badac), Estrada noted that at least half have not been satisfactorily performing their tasks to curb drugs in their respective jurisdiction.
“We need to reorient, revitalize or restrengthen our Badacs if we want to achieve a 100-percent drug-free city,” the Manila mayor said. “We cannot do that if not all the barangays are cooperating.”
Estrada is targeting to declare as “drug-free” at least 50 percent of the city’s 896 barangays, saying that the barangay drug-clearing operation of the city government is well on its way to achieving its target of 424 barangays on or before the end of December.
Twenty-four barangays have, so far, been officially declared drug-free this July.
Estrada has asked Rolynne Javier, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)-Manila head, to lead efforts to revitalize the barangay antidrug councils.
DILG-Manila serves as the secretariat of the Manila Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Madac), which Estrada, as the city mayor, chairs.
In an interview, Javier noted that, in their latest assessment of Badacs, only less than 50 percent are active in supporting the antidrug campaign of the city government.
“Our question is: Are these Badacs still functioning well? We have to determine each council’s functionality so they need not only revitalization but also strict assessment,” Javier said.
For instance, she noted that only about 400 Badacs are religiously submitting their monthly updated drug watch lists to Madac and DILG-Manila, which are also being forwarded to PDEA regularly.
With this unpleasant pattern, Javier said it will be a “real challenge” to achieve the city government’s goal of being a drug-free city by 2019 or earlier.
As tasked by Estrada, she said some of the “interventions” the DILG-Manila plans to do is the conduct of an extensive reorientation and assessment of every Badac, as well as workshops and seminars to smoothen the coordination of Badacs and Madac.
“We will also propose the grant of incentives and awards to top-performing Badacs as a way to encourage them to work hard,” the DILG official added.
Asked why several barangays seem reluctant to go all out against drugs, Javier revealed that many barangay officials have expressed fear for their safety.
“Some are truly afraid,” she said, adding that they also need to address this concern to Madac and the city’s peace and order council.
Five barangay chairmen in the city have been killed by unknown assailants since January.
While the police have not publicly announced the real motives behind the killings, some of the slain barangay chiefs were noted to have been waging a determined antidrug campaign in their communities before their deaths.
As mandated under DILG Memorandum Circular 2015-63, the Badac is primarily tasked to plan, strategize, implement and evaluate programs and projects on drug-abuse prevention in the barangay.
With the barangay chairman as the chairman, the council is also composed of at least two Sangguniang Barangay members, a public-school principal or a representative, the chairman of the Sangguniang Kabataan, a representative from a non-governmental organization or a civil-society group and a representative from a faith-based organization.