An alleged drug dealer is handcuffed after a drug buy-bust operation conducted by policemen in Philippines capital Manila on May 12, 2018. (Photo: AFP)
A Catholic youth group in the Philippines has become the official non-government partner to a US-funded campaign aiming to tackle the menace of illegal drugs in the country.
The Kabataan para sa Diyos (Youth for the Lord), a Catholic foundation whose members range from 18 to 40 years, was the first signatory to serve as a volunteer group in drug-infested communities, on Nov. 10.
The group is tasked to coordinate with local leaders to establish US-funded “mission communities” in provinces with high rates of drug-related crimes.
The mission communities would serve as the hub for interaction for drug dependents, volunteers, and government authorities.
“We know there are risks in joining this project. But we think, now is the proper time to act. We keep on saying that the human rights of drug suspects should be respected. We abhor extralegal killings… we cannot remain in our comfort zones,” the group’s executive director Anthony dela Rama told UCA News.
About 10,000 members of the group will be stationed in hundreds of mission communities to facilitate and animate interactions with drug dependents.
The group is connected with the Social Action Center of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
As a part of the project, drug dependents will receive skill-based education.
“We call it informal education because it is skill-based, a skill that will give them money or income. If we give them work, they’ll be busy,” US embassy project organizer John Cincua told reporters on Nov. 8.
The group admitted they encountered doubts from family and friends due to the risks involved.
“We trace our boldness from our faith, the faith that teaches us to go and set forth to the deep, the faith that gives us a sense of mission. Beginning today, we are setting forth in our country’s poorest communities, where many Filipino youth members like us, are under drug addiction mostly because of poverty. We want to make a difference in their lives,” dela Rama said.
The US government, through the Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), recently gathered international experts to train local government representatives to mitigate illegal drug dependence in the country.
At least 120 delegates from 19 local cities and provinces in the Philippines joined the national conference and training in Manila on how to respond to drug addiction at the local level.
The delegates would be working with the youth group around the country.
The training highlighted a “nuanced approach” to dealing with drug addiction in every community.
“Ever since, we think of the problem as systemic. Yes, it is systemic, but we have learned that the solution is not a blanket policy but fine-tuned for every community. This approach is very important,” Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte told reporters.
Participants also discussed the pressing concerns that led young people to illegal drugs.
“Being out of school is the first cause, both in surveys and in focus group discussions. If the youth is out of school, there is a very high probability that he will be exposed to vices, including illegal drug use,” Filipino anthropologist Bert Ajero told UCA News.
The US government promised to revive educational centers where out-of-school youth could learn skills to have a source of income.
“One of the most effective trainings that we had was how to approach the drug victim or suspect. The training taught us that there is no single approach to this problem. Sometimes, we can directly approach the family, or the victim himself. Others warrant the use of force, especially if the victim is caught in the act of possessing or using illegal drugs. But in all cases, human rights should always be observed,” Peter Nograles, a youth member from Manila, told UCA News.
The youth group is also tasked to introduce various sports and community-based projects to divert the attention of the young from illegal drugs.
A Catholic bishop thanked the US government for its involvement in the country’s crusade against illegal drugs.
“For the first time, a foreign country like the United States is hands-on in helping the Philippines in our fight with illegal drugs. Thank you for going to the grassroots level to address this concern,” Bishop Rex Alarcon, the head of the Commission on Youth, told UCA News.
In 2021, there were about 41,500 reported cases of illegal drugs in the Philippines, the majority reported by the National Capital Region's (NCR) police office, according to the Philippine Information Agency.
As of June 30, 2022, there were over 90,000 persons with deprived liberty (PDL) or prisoners in the Philippines with drug cases, says Philippine National Police.
Across the country, the National Capital Region and Calabarzon accounted for the highest volume of drug-related inmates in the prison cells.
The Philippine drug problem came to the global spotlight when former President Rodrigo Duterte unleashed the deadly war against drugs. Rights groups say the purge led to the extrajudicial killing of over 30,000 suspected drug users and dealers.
