DAGUPAN CITY , Philippines– About 8,000 students from public and private schools here, along with their teachers and principals, banded together yesterday to voice out their firm stance for a drug-free Dagupan through the Walk Against Drugs.
Carrying placards that conveyed their messages against illegal drugs, the junior and senior students from 26 public and private high schools here, marched from the city plaza to the CSI Stadia parking area where a program was held.
The event was a collaboration of the Private Schools Principals League of this city and the Adventist community in cooperation with the Department of Education, Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez and the Dangerous Drugs Board.
After listening to various speakers, some selected students displayed their skills in public speaking as they discussed how they would become productive citizens instead of destroying their future through illegal drug use.
Assistant schools superintendent Danilo Sison urged the students to think about their future and have the strong will to reject drug use.
For her part, Fernandez, who has been sponsoring a series of anti-drug abuse projects, said she is elated that young Dagupeños are united, as evidenced by their active participation in the Walk Against Drugs project.
“Because of our vision for a drug-free community, this menace will be driven away in every street, every home in our beloved city, thanks to the people who believe in our cause for a drug-free Dagupan,” she said.
DDB Secretary Antonio Villar Jr. lauded Fernandez and other cooperating agencies for their sustainable anti-illegal drug campaigns.