Koronadal City – “Illegal drugs will not do good to all of you,” an official of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the US Embassy said yesterday, urging the 3,480 school children to stay away from it.
Timothy Teal, country attaché of the US-DEA, made the call to the graduates of the government’s sponsored Drug Abuse Resistence Education (DARE) program during its culmination ceremonies in the provinces of South Cotabato, Sarangani and General Santos City where he was invited as the guest speaker.
“It will just destroy yourselves.Don’t dare to try it. Keep away from it,” Teal said, urging also the school children to share to others what they have learned from 16 weeks of listening to the lecturers of the DARE program coming from the Philippine Drug Abuse Resistance Education (PHILDARE).
Teal praised the concerned agencies, especially the PDEA, PHILDARE and PNP, for intiating efforts that successfully helped the government in swaying away the youth from drug addiction.
He also lauded Govs. Daisy Avance-Fuentes of South Cotabato province, Miguel Rene Dominguez of Sarangani and City Mayor Pedro Acharon of General Santos City for their support in educating the children about the hazardous effects of using the prohibited drugs.
He was accompanied by Central Mindanao officials of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, led by Senior Inspector Amado Tana, and PHILDARE bigwigs in attending the culmination of DARE in Tampakan towns in South Cotabato, Malapatan in Sarangani and in General Santos City on Jan. 16, 17 and 18.
In Tampakan town, a total of 1,800 school children have graduated from DARE while in Malapatan town, 1,150 have graduated. General Santos City has a total of 530 graduates. All the graduates belonged to the elementary and secondary levels. – Ramil Bajo