Tisa adopts positive spin on Pajo’s shame campaign

Zafra

Zafra: Drug-free stickers instead of spray-painting identified drug dens on houses

Instead of shaming suspected drug pushers and users, officials of a barangay in Cebu City are taking a more positive approach in the war against illegal drugs.

They are instead awarding drug-free households in the barangay with a “Drug Free” sticker placed on their houses.

This is a better approach compared to the shame campaign initiated by a barangay (Pajo) in Lapu-Lapu City, said Philip Zafra, Barangay Tisa captain and president of the Association of Barangay Councils in Cebu City.

“To me, this is what I will do. We will put drug-free stickers in their houses,” Zafra said.

A house-to-house background check has been continuously conducted in Barangay Tisa in preparation for the awarding of households as “Drug-Free.”

The Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Badac) is tasked to visit and evaluate each household in the barangay.

“We will do a background check of each member of the family. If proven that no one uses illegal drugs, no (one is a) drug addict, no (one is a) drug pusher, then house is not a drug den. We will put a sticker,” he said.

He said houses in the barangay without the drug-free stickers are the “questionable” houses.

He said once the stickers are made available and their data are complete, then they will begin putting the stickers in houses.

Zafra, as ABC Cebu City president, said he would also encourage the other city’s barangays to adopt the same campaign.

“I am encouraging them. Whatever it is that they know is an effective way (to fight illegal drugs) for their barangay, we will give them a leeway,” Zafra said.

Some of the Barug Team Rama-allied councilors expressed their support to Zafra’s campaign.

Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia said awarding people who are drug-free is a better way rather than shaming people who are into illegal drugs.
Garcia suggested that all ABC members should consider implementing the positive approach in their barangays.

Councilor Jose Daluz III shared the same view and said he would not support the shame campaign as it would be equal to extrajudicial killing.

“It is equal to extrajudicial killing because of your reputation. If an innocent person is being shamed, that is like killing him while he is alive. It is much worse because you are alive and you are already shamed in your whole life,” he said.

Councilor Pastor Jun Alcover also said that shaming suspected drug personalities would not solve the problem because it would only be a temporary solution.

But Councilor Dave Tumulak, deputy mayor on police matters, when sought for comment on Zafra’s campaign, said that a long term solution is what is needed to fight the illegal drug problem.

Tumulak said that the sustainability of the anti-drug campaign should be one of the things to consider for implementing the campaign.

“How can we sustain that (campaign)? How can we monitor that? How can we maintain? Barangays should do rehabilitation programs, intelligence gathering, community involvement and religious aspect (must be incorporated),” he said.