The “Terrorism of Gossip” and the Drug Menace in Bohol

The Bohol Tribune

In This Our Journey

A column by: NESTOR MANIEBO PESTELOS

In recent months, newspaper headlines in Bohol have brought to prominence what has been suspected by the public all along – that the province has seemingly become a major transshipment point for illegal drugs and that drug pushers and abusers have magnified their presence quite significantly over the last few years. More alarmingly, drug syndicates are generally perceived to be operating in the province with knowledge of, if not connivance, with duly constituted authorities.

Drug-related killings and other heinous crimes, such as rape (in one case, a mother was raped by her own son, who is a drug addict); physical assault, theft and robbery. The local papers have displayed on their front pages pictures of alleged drug pushers shot dead in broad daylight, in busy streets, of Tagbilaran City and in the towns mostly by unknown assassins in motorcycles riding in tandem.

It is best to go beyond what Pope Francis refers to as the “terrorism of gossip” and confront this pernicious drug menace systematically and proceed to work out and implement a comprehensive strategy to address it.

Whether by covert police operations or by vigilantes, these killings damage the traditionally peaceful Bol-anon way of life. They do not reflect the vast reservoir of social capital and community cohesiveness that Bohol is noted for both in the country and abroad. It negates what has been vaunted about as our humane brand of life in Bohol.

Pursuing police or vigilante operations to address the current drug menace will not be effective in the long run. A multi-pronged approach is needed which may include the following:

• a comprehensive public awareness campaign aimed at enlisting people and institutions at the grassroots level in the fight against drug abuse;
• a committed police force well-equipped to combat syndicates who use illegal means and intimidation to expand their network of  drug pushers and other shady agents in every sector of society; and, equally important,
• a rehabilitation center which will combine community-based approaches with cost-effective clinical methods and a humanitarian and eclectic strategy to deal with hundreds of drug users who seem to inhabit practically all the barangays in the province whose presence threatens social stability and the attainment of peace and progress and represents a sheer waste in human resources.

It’s amazing how the drug menace confronting Boholano society has not merited broad-based support from all sectors. Instead, gossips abound on who are protecting the drug syndicates, who are pushers and users in a particular barangay or office. It is time to go beyond rumor-mongering and take the drug abuse problem by the horn, so to speak.

In my more than thirty years of helping implement programs and projects primarily for the disadvantaged and marginalized, who necessarily include women and the youth, I am convinced that the drug menace in our midst has to be addressed in a comprehensive way and specific roles assigned to individual agencies, institutions and organizations within the context of an all-embracing program approach to avoid ineffective piecemeal solutions.

For our part, with the support of our NGO, the Bohol Local Development Foundation, we will devote time and other resources to work with relevant institutions in setting up a New Day Recovery Center Bohol patterned after NDRC Davao. It is proposed that the latter consider NDRC Bohol as an affiliate and part of its corporate social responsibility. In this way, its internationally-known experts, most of them Boholanos, will reach more clients among drug abuse victims among the disadvantaged sectors of the population in their home province.

Most drug abuse victims belong to poor families who will not have the means to access quality rehabilitation procedures and tools. We have to reach them with much-needed services through a Center in the province. Towards this end, consultations are now being done with relevant academic and civil society organizations and with NDRC Davao. Hopefully, the other program components will be taken care of by the Government and other entities.

Our NGO will make available the use of a 1.2 hectare of land for this catalyst project. It is hoped this will help carry the discussion about the drug menace in Bohol beyond gossips. ###

NMP/15 January 2015/1.36 p.m.