Reforming drug users undergo testing in Basilan

ISABELA CITY, Philippines — Hundreds of reforming former drug dependents here underwent Friday another testing for use of methamphetamine hydrochloride as part of an intervention for them to fully bounce back from addiction.

The continuing program to usher them back into the mainstream communities is a joint initiative of the Isabela City police station, the office of Isabela City Mayor Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the city’s 45 barangay governments.

The local government unit of Isabela City, a port hub in the island province of Basilan, is aiming to soon have at least 12 more “drug-cleared” barangays to add to the nine barangays already sanitized through the efforts of community leaders, the police and Basilan-based PDEA personnel.

The drug problem besetting Isabela City proliferated years before the election to office in May 2019 of the newcomer Turabin-Hataman and her running mate then, the now Vice Mayor Kifli Salliman, also a first-termer.

Barangay officials who accompanied constituents to the venue of Friday’s drug testing said governance woes during the time of past city officials and their lack of resolve to nip the problem from the bud condoned the addiction of many residents to methamphetamine hydrochloride, more known as shabu. 

The Isabela City police and PDEA-Basilan have warned the former drug dependents present in Friday’s event of prosecution if they flunk the drug tests to be administered on periodic basis through the efforts of the mayor’s office.

The LGU’s drug rehabilitation program is focused on community works, religious and psycho-social interventions being assisted by Islamic missionaries and preachers from the Christian communities, according to City Administrator Joel Zanoria.

The anti-drug initiatives of the Isabela City LGU is being supported extensively by members of the Sangguniang Panglungsod, whose presiding chairman, Salliman, has been focusing attention on legislative efforts meant to rid the local communities of criminals and narco-terrorists.

More than 20 drug dealers have been arrested in one operation after another by the police and PDEA in a continuing crackdown since the June 30, 2019 assumption to office of Turabin-Hataman and Salliman.