The city of Manila’s business community has expressed their support to Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada’s anti-drug education program for children, Filipino-Chinese tycoon Alfredo Yao said on Sunday.
Yao, founder of juice manufacturer Zest-O Corp. and chairman of soft drinks bottling and distribution firm Macay Holdings Inc., cited how “alarming” the illegal drug situation in the country has become in the past years.
He said the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program that Estrada brought to the country in 1993 has so far been effective in preventing drug and substance addiction among schoolchildren.
“Yes, the business community is in full support. After all, we only have one country—Philippines,” Yao said during the graduation of the second batch of 36 trainees who recently completed the DARE Officers Training Course at the Manila Pavilion.
Yao serves as chairman of the board of DARE Philippines Association, Inc., a non-government organization leading the implementation of the program in the country. Estrada is the group’s honorary chairman.
The tycoon admitted that the business community has long been alarmed of the prevalence of drugs in the Philippines.
“Yes, yes. There is a big problem on drugs, it’s so big! It’s an eye opener. Look what has happened in the campaign against illegal drugs. It’s an eye opener how bad it is—how deep it is,” he said, referring to the anti-drug campaign of the national government that has resulted to the killing of about 3,000 drug personalities and arrest and surrender of thousands more.
“It’s very alarming, 80 percent of our crimes committed are drug-related. Hopefully, we can put a stop to this,” Yao added.
As the privately funded NGO’s chairman of the board, Yao said they are hoping to train more DARE officers to teach more students not only in Manila but also in the entire country.
Originating from the United States, DARE is a classroom instruction program that taps active duty police officers and soldiers to teach Grades 5 and 6 students good decision-making skills that would keep them away from drugs and other vices.
Earlier this month, the first batch of 72 policemen and soldiers graduated from the 80-hour DOT. They are members of the Manila Police District, Pasay City police, and from other regional police offices nationwide. The soldiers were from the Army’s Civil Military Operations Group based in Fort Bonifacio.
A team of instructors from DARE America, who founded the program in Los Angeles, California, in the early 80s, trained the new DARE officers. Estrada himself invited the American instructors to Manila.
Since 1993, when Estrada introduced the program in the country when he was Vice President and head of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission, more than 1.5-million students have undergone DARE instruction.
At present, about 500 members of the Philippine National Police, Army, and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency are certified DARE officers.