PDEA-7 Information Officer Leia Albiar-Alcantara | Contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Parents are encouraged to educate their children on illegal drugs and their effects, and for the schools, to strengthen this drug education among the students.
Leah Albiar-Alcantara, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) public information officer, said this amid the recent arrest of a son of a city government official in Bohol for allegedly selling party drugs.
Read more: Man nabbed inside Tagbilaran City hotel room for selling party drugs
Alcantara was referring to the arrest of Eric Borja, 26, during a joint buy-bust operation of PDEA Bohol and the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) at 9 a.m. on Sunday, August 11, inside a hotel room in Tagbilaran City in Bohol Province.
Lawyer Tomas Enrile, NBI-7 regional director, confirmed in a phone interview that Borja is the son of Tagbilaran City Administrator Leonides Borja.
Alcantara said that Borja was caught with seven ecstasy pills with a Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) value of P10,500 with each pill valued at P1,500 each.
She also said that the agency made the call on the parents and the school on drug education because the target of those selling party drugs such as ecstasy pills were usually the youth.
Alcantara said that although party drugs were not as rampant as shabu because these were more expensive than the latter and were catering to a smaller market, this was still a concern especially to parents.
“Any form of illegal drugs available in our streets is a cause for alarm, especially if it is targeting our youth,” said Alcantara.
“We call on the parents and teachers to help us by being vigilant and paying close attention to our children and to start drug education in our very homes and to strengthen it in our schools,” she said.
She also cited the drug education programs that the PDEA and the Department of Education were implementing in the community and schools.
“We are grateful to DepEd for institutionalizing their National Drug Education Program in our schools,” she said.
“This greatly helps in our advocacy to protect our youth from illegal drugs by educating them on the ill effects of drugs to their mind and body and the consequencies if they are involved in any illegal drug transaction,” Alcantara said.
She said that Preventive Education and Community Involvement Section of PDEA would also conduct drug education lectures in schools, workplaces and even in the barangays.
She said that anybody, who would want to take advantage of these drug education lectures could send a letter of request to the PDEA-7 office./dbs