For The Bohol Tribune
In This Our Journey
NESTOR MANIEBO PESTELOS
The recently-concluded
consultation meetings with barangay councils in the immediate catchment area of
the emerging drug rehabilitation center, to be known as the FARM It Works Balay
Kahayag (FITWBK) Chemical Dependency Treatment Center, has shown that we need
to establish a network of outreach services units in support of this facility. The
consultative activity undertaken just recently in the barangays of Laya, where the FITWBK will be located, and
the adjoining barangays, Cambanac and Montana, in the municipality of Baclayon
has validated the need for such outreach services. Otherwise, Bohol’s first
drug rehabilitation center will not be able to cope with the number of drug
addiction cases that will have to be attended to which will require
comprehensive assessment, referral and treatment.
I listened intently and
took notes as Alain Alino, center director, engaged the barangay council
members on a) the gravity of the drug addiction problem to be addressed in each
barangay; b) what must be done
immediately in preparation for the full operations of the center.
For the first key concern,
I brought along our compilation of newspaper clippings on the drug abuse issue,
now in five thick “Columnar Books,” and passed them around. No expression of
shock nor surprise at all from those who attended the meetings.
Perhaps they were by this
time used to seeing pictures of people shot dead in broad daylight or that they
were able to adjust to the grim reality brought about by drug-related crimes. In
one barangay, they matter-of-factly mentioned during the meeting about a male
drug addict who committed suicide by electrocuting himself! A cruel and brutal
way to die, but I did not hear any strong response to it by way of comment. I
had the uneasy feeling that they were thinking the person deserved to die this
way because it was his fault he became a drug addict.
In all their accounts of
the drug addiction situation in their neighborhood, there seemed to be a
general acceptance about it, a laid-back, matter-of-fact attitude about a
personal or family problem. Since it was not discussed as a problem in any of
their previous meetings, I concluded that the leaders of the barangays and
their constituents were treating this as purely family business and not the
concern of local governance at all.
As the discussion
progressed in each of the three meetings, I came to realize that this seemingly
passive attitude about the problem could be due to: a) lack of full knowledge
about drug addiction as a brain disease and that it needs systematic treatment
and post-treatment interventions; and b) a self-imposed denial of the problem
due to perceived high cost of treatment which the family could not possibly
afford.
For both key concerns,
each of three barangay councils were able to identify something in common.
Everybody agreed that an outreach facility is urgently needed to serve as
initial contact point for advice, initial testing or assessment and referral to an institution which can provide
the appropriate treatment for family members with a drug addiction problem.
The latter may include
home-based or non-residential treatment which is less costly than
institutionalized treatment and care.
In previous columns, I
have referred to this support outreach facility as ODIC or Outreach Drop-In
Center as used by the UN agency which piloted this concept in several
countries, including the Philippines. I learned from colleagues of the two drug
rehab centers helping us that this is similar to what was piloted in Ozamiz
City with the acronym SAFE or Substance Abuse Family Enhancement facility.
Whether named ODIC or
SAFE, it can serve the purpose of providing vital information to affected
families about the nature of drug addiction affecting any of their members,
their relative severity of the affliction and the appropriate treatment
required.
The result will then be a
sound basis for determining the costs, which may be affordable after all. Our
colleagues from both the FARM Recovery Center and the It Works Chemical
Dependency Treatment Center that they will be flexible in their costing, that
the costs can be negotiable, based on the ability to pay of families deserving
of financial assistance.
The costing can be
realistically estimated at the ODIC-type facility which can be established to
take the load off the drug rehab center during the diagnostic or pre-treatment
phase. The next question is: how do we
establish the ODIC-type facility? In previous proposals that we prepared prior
to this recent arrangement regarding the FITWBK, we gave details about the
physical infrastructure and staffing required and the costing, and we proposed
that the facility be initially under the management of the Church or any
faith-based organization.
This proposed strategy was
based on our thinking that during critical times, families burdened with
problems could relate more to religious institutions rather than to secular
ones. I think this is an area where partnership with the religious sector will
be quite effective in addressing the key concerns I have cited. Our advocacy
for this outreach facility will necessarily include getting faith-based
organizations to get interested in taking up responsibility for this missing
link in the current strategy.
We cannot burden the
pioneering entity with most of the activities that belong to the pre-treatment
phase so that its technical staff can focus on the treatment aspect of the
rehabilitation process.
The discussions during the
barangay consultation meetings further strengthened the resolve of both the
Center staff and our NGO to devise effective strategies to organize families
burdened with the drug addiction problem more effectively. It is only through
an organization that these families can mutually learn to mobilize resources
together, share learnings in dealing with a common problem and, on the whole,
be a significant social force to address the current drug menace in our midst
which remains unattended by sound policies and programs.
Finally, we would like to
say, we are energized by the enthusiasm that everyone exuded during the barangay
meetings. Everyone would like to be part of the emerging movement for a
drug-free Bohol. We hope our readers will join us in providing support to the
pioneering drug rehabilitation facility and help us prevent future social
problems due to untreated drug addiction among our people, mostly the youth.
For the provision of
much-needed outreach services to families burdened by the drug addiction
problem, we hope and pray the Church and faith-based organizations will join us
in this crusade to save souls and win the hearts and minds of more people to
our cause. As pointed out during the discussions, drug addiction causes more
damage than the strongest typhoon or earthquake. It destroys both our present
and future.
NMP/31 Oct 2015/3.12 a.m.
grt
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