Random Thoughts

By December 4, 2017Opinion, Random Thoughts

DECEMBER TOO SOON? — As of last week, three barangays of Pangasinan located in San Carlos City and San Fabian were the only ones left to be cleared of illegal drugs by the Pangasinan Police Provincial Office, out of the 1,259 villages that were drug-affected.

This only shows the PPPO is keeping up with its self-imposed deadline to make Pangasinan drug-free by the end of December this year.

But can the PPPO meet the deadline considering the fact that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) reported just 442 barangays as drug-free as of last week after its oversight committee validated just 11 towns as drug-free?

The impression is, you cannot declare a town drug-free just by clearing it of illegal drugs. The cleared town will have yet to go through strict validation by the Provincial Oversight Committee, that will recommend its further validation by the Regional Validation Committee.

I believe PDEA is not rushing to declare a locality drug-free. It has to bade its time because if it rushed a decision, it is prone to commit mistakes and it will be faulted if any one village or town slides back to its old discredited status as drug-affected.

That’s why declaring a town or city drug-free is not an easy task. Validation by the PDEA does not only meticulously consider the absence of even a single user and pusher in the town or city.  It also evaluates how LGUs rehabilitated the drug surrenderers to ensure that they can go back to their normal lives as well as find employment and livelihood after their rehab.

On the part of the police tasked with clearing towns/cities and barangays, they can not declare a locality drug-cleared if there is still one drug pusher or user roaming in the community.

If there is one, they must account for him. They have to find him, or locate him or her whether he or she has gone to another place or abroad, there must be people knowledgeable who must execute an affidavit that the wanted personality could no longer be found.

This, we believe could be the reason why the police and officials of San Carlos City and San Fabian have not declared their respective localities as drug-cleared since  there are still some people they have to account for.

At the rate it is going and considering the fact that there were only 12 towns validated to be drug-free so far, with Sta. Maria as the last town validated, the dream to make Pangasinan validated as drug-free by the end of December might still not be possible.

But we are watching. All the required documents of the already drug-cleared towns and cities have already been submitted to the PDEA for validation.

As to when the validation will be completed, we don’t know. We just hope and pray it will be soon. –  Leonardo Micua

 

PRESERVE GRANDEUR OF TOWN HALLS. All town or city mayors do their best to make their presidencia look da best. It’s the soul of their munisipyo, after all.

But what saddens me is the sight of damaged motor vehicles parked in front of or beside police stations mostly adjacent to town/city hall.

Creepy and mind-disturbing as well.

It’s no longer unusual to see smashed-up vehicles parked in front of police stations not just for a week but months.

Again, one gets that eerie feeling when you remember how the victims fared in that tragic accident.

Hindi ba pwedeng itambak na lang itong mga sira-sirang sasakyan na ito sa medyo malayong lugar na hindi agad-agad nakabungad sa munisipyo o sa police station?

Nakakasira kasi ng view at pati ng mood ng taong makakakita. Feeling mo parang Araw ng Patay lagi.

Perhaps local leaders and the policemen should agree where to park the wrecked motor vehicles, particularly when owners no longer want anymore to recover them.

After doing the necessary documentation, baka naman pwede na silang itambak na lang sa isang maayos na lugar o kaya find a way na pwede na silang ma-dispose para mapakinabangan pa maski papaano.

The grandeur of a new town hall, or a newly renovated or repainted munisipyo or police station is lost if its surroundings are used as a junkyard.— Eva Visperas

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