Dangerous Drugs Board Chairman Catalino Cuy is batting for the amendment of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Addressing the recent Association of Southeast Asian Nations Training on Universal Prevention Curriculum on Substance Use, Cuy emphasized the need to allocate a “substantial” amount of local government resources for the anti-drug campaign and advocacy.
“A substantial amount should be able to support a drug-prevention program,” he said.
In other developments:
• Presidential son Paolo Duterte on Friday slammed Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison for accusing him and his father, Rodrigo Duterte, as the biggest drug protectors in the country.
He said the words of Sison were a sign that the “oldest terror group in Southeast Asia is completely losing it.”
“The statement sounded insanely absurd as it was a repetition of, if not inspired by, an old gossip propagated and sowed around by an anti-Duterte senator who is also a rabid anti-communist,” Paolo said.
• The city government of Taguig on Friday commended the police for the arrest of city councilor Richard Paul Jordan who was caught in possession of 30 ecstasy party drug tablets in a popular hotel-casino in Parañaque City.
Jordan was initially accused of stealing valuable items at the Solaire Bay Tower in Barangay Tambo last Tuesday but when security personnel of the hotel placed him under questioning, they found the prohibited substance along with the missing items worth P22,000 inside his bag.
Cuy said to be able to maintain consistency in the funds allocated to anti-drug advocacies, the DDB was pushing for the amendment of RA 9165 to clearly define how much is “substantial.”
“What will happen is that the budget for such will just depend on the priority of the local executive. What may be substantial for them may not the whole program,” he said.
The substantial amount to be allotted for the anti-drug programs is proposed to have a specific figure similar to the gender and development program that receives at least 5 percent of the total annual budget.
Article 7 Section 51 of RA 9165 provides guidelines for local government units to appropriate a substantial portion of their respective annual budgets to assist in or enhance the enforcement of this Act giving priority to preventive or educational programs and the rehabilitation or treatment of drug dependents.
Meanwhile, Cuy also shared with participants of the training a best practice implemented in Davao City providing a non-government organization-operated educational program for inmates.
“We are encouraging this particular NGO to expand in Metro Manila, in other key cities where there are big detention facilities of Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and Bureau of Corrections,” Cuy said. With F. Pearl A. Gajunera and Joel E. Zurbano
