CEAP to schools: Keep students away from drugs
DAVAO CITY – A Catholic prelate has challenged schools in the country to do their part in addressing the drug menace by ensuring that their students are kept away from illegal drugs.
Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) president Joel Tabora said “the first thing that all of our schools must give attention to is to get their students not to use drugs. That is a challenge,” he said.
Tabora, president of the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU), said the CEAP supports the position of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) against the bloody war on drugs of the Duterte administration but recognized the need for schools to initiate activities that will veer the attention of the students away from illegal drugs.
Citing the Archdiocese of Davao, he said churches are working with Catholic institutions here to reach out to the barangays and implement barangaybased rehabilitation programs along with the city government and Department of Health (DOH).
The prelate acknowledged the efforts of some Catholic schools which have started programs aimed at facilitating the rehabilitation of drug reformists.
“These are initiatives which are also in other archdioceses. I do not know if they are in all dioceses and archdioceses of the Philippines but certainly they are in many. I can think of Cagayan de Oro, I can think of Manila, there is program in this regard,” he said.
He said the ADDU has a Committee Against Illegal Drugs (CAID) launched on December 15, 2016 as a major partner of the Davao City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Cadac) and an affiliate of the Sagop Kinabuhi Program of the Archdiocese of Davao.
CAID comprises four key programs such as healing and recovery, drug hotline referral helpline, human rights training for law enforces, and Ateneo In-House Community Awareness Training.
“The CEAP stands with our bishops on this issue. Bishops have condemned the use of extra-judicial killings (EJK), even as the bishops say that the campaign against illegal drugs is a campaign, which is justified because illegal drugs go against human life.