AT least 21 barangays in Quezon City have been declared drug-free, according to Mayor Herbert Bautista.
“Quezon City has been in the anti-drug campaign even before Edsa I. We are doing our utmost best and fully cooperating with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and other stakeholders to ensure our campaign against illegal drugs are successful here in Quezon City,” he said during the recent RehabiNasyon forum.
“So far, we have out of 142 barangays, 21 that are drug-free. However, we have still a long way to go,” the mayor added.
He vowed to intensity the city’s drive for more drug-free communities to support the anti-war campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The city government’s campaign is coordinated by the Quezon City Anti-Drug Abuse Advisory Council, created in the early 1980s and strengthened in the early 2000s when Bautista was still vice mayor.
QCDAAC, chaired by Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, has been conducting anti-drug information campaigns in schools and seminars and lectures to parents and teachers’ associations.
“We will intensify our information dissemination campaign in schools through lectures and seminars at the PTA level. We want the parents [of the students] to be involved,” Bautista said.
“Once we have trained the parents of what to do, they themselves can now monitor their children. They would know if their children are into drugs,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Quezon City Public Employment Services Office recently conducted a livelihood training seminar for 270 Overseas Filipino Workers and their family members.
The training, held to mark the 22nd National Migrant Workers Day, was undertaken in cooperation with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Department of Labor and Employment, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, and the Commission of Filipino Overseas.
According to QC PESO Special Program Section head Djohnna Delia G. Ravelo, the training aims to provide sustainable livelihood skills to the families of OFWs.
The OFW family members were trained on food and meat processing and dishwashing liquid, cosmetics, and perfume making.
QC PESO records show there are 6,670 registered OFWs in Quezon City as of May 2017.