PNP, PDEA educate students on illegal drugs, terrorism

CEBU, Philippines – Joel Fernandez, 19, knows that doing drugs is prohibited under the law, but he does not really know the actual consequences of such action.

A recent lecture conducted by the personnel of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas allowed Fernandez better appreciate why it always pays to be a law-abiding citizen.

Fernandez, the student body president of the senior high school department of Cebu Technological Sciences, were among the dozens of students who joined the lecture in the hopes of learning about the pitfalls of illegal drugs, as well as the threats from joining recruitment activities of left-leaning groups inside the campus.

“I have learned that drugs is not the solution to our problem. We should avoid it or we face its consequences, which is jail or even death,” he told The FREEMAN in Cebuano.

PDEA-7 personnel and those from the Police Regional Office-7 have been touring different schools to do lectures on illegal drugs and anti-terrorism awareness.

According to Colonel Renato Dugan, police community relations chief of PRO-7, the lectures are in line with the government’s campaign to end local communist armed conflict or ELCAC.

“We are doing this in support of the campaign. We are trying to apply a whole-nation approach, so we go to schools to educate students about the ill effects of doing drugs or joining in the illegal drug trade and joining in the armed conflict against the government,” Dugan said.

Under the initiative, different government agencies and law-enforcement offices are involved.

Dugan said the police intend to target younger audiences, particularly the senior high school students, as they are often labeled as “soft targets” of the National People’s Army (NPA).

“As you can see, we are targeting these audiences, the senior high students and college students, because they have become easy targets. They are likely to be enticed (by left-leaning groups) to join their causes,” he said.

He said the information drive seeks to raise awareness among students to avoid being recruited by the NPA.

Although there are no reports of insurgency in Cebu, Dugan said that the problem still persists in some parts of the country.

Thus, this has pushed them to continue doing the lectures in the hopes that Cebu students are educated and know how to deal with it once they are faced with such a situation.

Dugan said that the problem of insurgency may be solved by starting with the youngsters. /JMD (FREEMAN)