Drug surrenderers in Liloan, Cebu listen intently to their town officials’ program for their welfare during the launching of the munipalty’s “Operation Second Chance” project. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)
At fifteen, when most teenagers equated fun with books, gadgets and social gatherings, Ian Luis Belleza defined fun as being on top of cloud nine. And the only way to reach this euphoria was through shabu.
More than the burst of fun it promised, the methamphetamine drug also provided him a parachute which he would use to escape from all of life’s cruelties.
But later on, what Ian thought of as an antidote to all his problems would become the root of his suffering. It turned him and his older brothers into enemies of the law, the knife that cut the cord that connected him and his family and became his father’s killer. Illegal drugs shattered his life as quickly as it sent him on a high.
One day, Ian came to his senses. “[I realized] wala sa droga ang akong kaugmaon (My future doesn’t rely on drugs),” the young man from Suba, Liloan, mused. He lifted himself up from the fall and decided it was time to change. He flew to Manila to start afresh, away from the drug that shattered his life.
Five years later, a 20-year-old man in gray button-down, jeans and rubber shoes climbs up the stage of Pamphil Frasco Memorial Complex and stands behind a podium on a bright Monday morning. “Nagpasalamat ko sa Ginoo nga iya ko’ng gitabangan (I thank the Lord for rescuing me). It was Jesus who came to my heart and helped me change. Indeed, there is a second chance at life,” he said, sealing his message to a close. A thunder of claps saturated the hall.
Ian’s testimony of change and renewed hope inspired the municipality of Liloan to launch the program called “Liloan Operation Second Chance,” a program spearheaded by the town’s local government to lend a hand to its drug surrenderers. Partnering with nongovernment organizations and different government agencies like Department of Health (DOH) and the Alternative Learning System (ALS), the program aims to help Liloan’s 1,260 drug surrenderers.
The program offers free livelihood and skills training, employment opportunities, sports clinics, health services and community-based rehabilitation to the surrenderers in exchange for community service.
It is also in line with the “Sugbo Kontra Droga (SuKoD), a campaign initiated by the province against illegal drugs that encourages drug surrenderers to become “positive contributing members to the society.”
“Our local government unit is willing to help everyone who is willing to present themselves and surrender,” Liloan Mayor Christina Frasco said during the launching of the program.
The program also tries to eliminate the negative connotation that comes with the term “surrenderer” by referring to all the participants of the program as “volunteers for second chance.” This way, those who take to heart their submission to the local government will become owners of the new life they are about to take. Which is why after the program, Mayor Frasco led everyone to commitment pledge and signing of a covenant to totally turn from and help combat drugs.
As of yesterday, over 200 of the surrenderers have volunteered to participate in the program according to Liloan town Police Chief Insp. Franco Oriol.
Barangays that have the most surrenderers are Poblacion and Hubas, an accomplishment which the chief chalked up to the efforts of the barangays’ respective captains. “We will not stop the Operation Tokhang until we seize the last person involved in illegal drugs,” he said.
The programs will run until all surrenderers become “volunteers for second chance.”