Osmeña, Zafra back Ermita’s campaign

STRESS the deed, not the doer.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña had this to say yesterday when asked for comment on the campaign of Barangay Ermita officials to put tarpaulins on identified drug-free households in the barangay.

“It’s a step in the right direction. Pero dili ko motuo nga wala siya’y (Ermita Barangay Captain Felicisimo ‘Imok’ Rupinta) labot sa drugas (But I don’t believe that he has no involvement in illegal drugs),” the mayor tersely said during his press conference yesterday.

For his part, Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) President Philip Zafra praised Barangay Ermita for putting to action what he earlier announced as a “positive approach” in the fight against illegal drugs.

To recall, Zafra told reporters last month that he was planning to label as drug-free the houses that have been cleared by authorities, which meant that no members in the household was either a drug user or a drug pusher.

“That’s good news. I’m hoping all (barangays) will follow suit so that our campaign will be more effective. This is a positive approach in the implementation of the campaign against illegal drugs,” Zafra said.

He explained that the “positive approach” aims to highlight the fact that there are so much more people and homes that are drug free than those that are drug infested.

It is also a way to increase public awareness on the drug problem in a community and for them to feel involved in the campaign against illegal drugs, Zafra added.

He said those houses that would not receive the sticker or tarpaulin may have members of their household who are drug users or drug pushers. With this, Zafra said it was also a way for the barangays to do proper intervention in helping these people without having to publicly do so in order to spare them from humiliation and discrimination.

“We will still adhere to due process of law. It’s not that if they don’t have the sticker, we will violate their rights. And even if they have the stickers, they will still be continuously monitored,” Zafra said.

In fact, Zafra said they were scheduled to do the same in Barangay Tisa, where he is barangay captain, by next week.

He said they have already printed 5,000 stickers corresponding to the estimated number of households in the barangay.

Zafra assured that the identification process was tedious and included validation and assessment with the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Badac), actual visits, and interviews with neighbors. They also shared notes with the police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7), he said. /WITH CORRESPONDENT INNA GIAN MEJIA