For The Bohol Tribune
In This Our Journey
NESTOR MANIEBO PESTELOS
Thursday it is and I
am aware I am writing this column for Sunday, which is Easter, a celebration
for the Risen Christ, a symbol of hope and redemption for Christians. I am sure
other religions have similar symbols for what is basically a faith in the
resilience of the human spirit although expressed in different ways.
The other evening,
Holy Wednesday, I watched from a window the procession passing below, a scene
many of us here in our town, Baclayon, never failed to watch or join year after
year. Someone from us here on this particular evening, among those relegated to
the role of viewers due to arthritic
knees or whatever ails the flesh or spirit, had the good sense to count the
number of carosas or floats/carriages and reported that there were 19 in all.
The subliminal
message from the loud announcement of the number seemed to be - our faith
remains secure despite the seemingly insurmountable problems which tend to
shake our sense of well-being and faith in our capacity to look after one
another. I could almost hear the unspoken message: see it was only 17 last
year!
As in similar
processions for other religious occasions, each carriage was decorated with candles
and fresh flowers and there was the sculpted image of Jesus, the Virgin Mary or
the saints whose carriage was prepared for the occasion by a family or a
barangay.
Yes, it takes more
than a village to maintain such an elaborate religious procession, complete
with floats and clusters of people following each carriage, alternately singing
and saying their prayers. As I watched from the window nursing a sore knee from
going up and down the stairs in my in-laws’ place, it occurred to me that as
surely as there is the gloom during the first few days of Lent, a new day
awaits us in the end, our faith in ourselves intact and a new surge of energy
propelling us to pursue our dream.
I told myself repeatedly
after the procession that surely a community which can galvanize support from
individuals and families to organize participation in an elaborate traditional
ritual such as a religious procession has the subjective force in the form of a
collective will to pursue any dream at all consistent with a religious
conviction or a development objective.
I brought to this
Wednesday night the cross that I and a few friends have been carrying the most
part of 2014 until this year: the knowledge that the so-called drug menace in
Bohol has actually become a major social monster ready to devour us if we do
not get our acts together. Since 20 April 2014 when we started monitoring this
problem through a compilation of clippings from three newspapers in the province,
until our last entry on 29 March 2015, drug-related news stories reached 107,
mostly on killings and arrests of what the media call “drug personalities.”
Except for one editorial and a column, there
seemed to be a grand silence about what is generally perceived as a
controversial issue or a tendency to be laid-back about the torrents of
drug-related news regarding events which may have succeeded to bring about a
feeling of helplessness among many people. I have written about this issue
three times in this column: “The ‘Terrorism of Gossip’ and the Drug Menace in
Bohol” (24 -25 Jan 2015); “The Road Not Taken”, 21 – 22 Feb 2015); “A Challenge
to NGOs in Bohol”, 22 – 28 Mar 2015). Not a single feedback except from my wife
and close friends, mostly in dismay and sympathy!
Perhaps it is again
worth clarifying here that our cause is to address the social problems brought
about by the increasing number of those with drug addiction in the province. We
leave the identification and arrest of those involved in the illegal drug trade
to the Government which is mandated to perform this role.
Our NGO, the Bohol
Local Development Foundation, Inc., successor of the UNICEF-assisted Ilaw
International Center, is committed to the cause of helping build the New Day
Recovery Center Bohol patterned after a similar facility in Davao City. The
Diocese of Tagbilaran has encouraged us to submit a detailed proposal towards
this end which BLDF is now doing with the full participation of colleagues from
NDRC Davao. Hopefully, by next week, we will be able to submit the detailed
proposal based on a concept approved by our other key partners, Holy Name
University and the Kasing-Sining Association.
As we have discussed
with colleagues from the Government, CSOs, including NGOs and the academe, we
subscribe to the following principles of the United Nations in translating the
concept we submitted to key partners into a workable and sustainable framework
for project preparation which will lead to the establishment of the proposed
NDRC :
·
Drug
dependence is a complex and multidimensional disorder involving
individual, cultural, biological, social and environmental factors.
·
Drug
dependence is as much a disorder of the brain as any other neurological
or psychiatric illness.
·
One of
the main barriers to treatment and care is the stigma and discrimination
associated with this treatable health disorder.
·
Drug
dependence treatment needs a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach
including both pharmacological and psychosocial interventions.
·
Drug
dependence can be treated effectively with low-cost medications and
standardized psychological therapies.
BLDF and its key
partners (Diocese of Tagbilaran, NDRC Davao, Holy Name University, Kasing
Sining Association} agree with the UN that our goal is to “ remove barriers to
low-cost, effective and evidence-based drug treatment services … and to provide
diversified, effective and quality drug dependence treatment and rehabilitation
services.”
In the pursuit of this goal, BLDF as a pro-poor NGO, will
join counterparts from the Government, CSOs and faith-based organizations, in
ensuring that victims of drug abuse and other addictions will have access to
quality pre-treatment and treatment services as those given to clients whose
families can afford the costs of quality services.
According to the UN Office for Drugs and
Crimes, the strategy to achieve this goal will include three lines of action:
Advocacy
- Promoting a sound understanding of drug
dependence treatment and care … and
the recognition of drug dependence as a health disorder that requires a
multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach;
Capacity Building
- Improving the technical skills and
capacity of drug dependence treatment and care service providers . . .
through a "train the trainers" approach
- Through the training of trainers
approach, a mobile core team of trainers will train service providers or NDRC
community facilitators in their own communities.
Service Improvement
- Supporting the development and
improvement of evidence-based treatment and care services that provide a
continuum of care objective to treatment at the local level
- Provincial and sub-provincial networks
of governments, treatment centres, primary health care services,
universities and NGOs will disseminate evidence-based good practice in
drug dependence treatment that includes accessibility to treatment alongside
social integration and rehabilitation.
With the support of
NDRC Davao, and with the encouragement of the Diocese of Tagbilaran, we are now
on the final stage of preparing a detailed project document on the proposed New
Day Recovery Center (NDRC) Bohol. There is a role for Government, the private
sector and civil society in this project that will hopefully bring about a new
day in our province after the initial gloomy days of our journey towards deliverance
from these social ills which now afflict us. #newdaybohol. –
NMP/02Apr2015/3.58 p.m.
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