TOWN’S ADAC ‘IN OPERATION’

Lawyer explains that focal person of San Francisco, Camotes’ anti-drug abuse council had failed to submit its achievements on time to establish its existence

THE Municipality of San Francisco, Camotes will send on Monday, April 8, its response to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) following its inclusion on the list of local government units that failed to organize their anti-drug abuse councils (Adacs).

The pronouncement was made by lawyer Edmund Lao, the legal counsel of Bakud party, in a press conference on Sunday, April 7. Arquillano is a member of Bakud.

Lao said the focal person of the San Francisco Municipal Anti-Drug Abuse Council had failed to submit records on time.

“If the records had been submitted, that would have established that the town has an Adac in place. The Arquillanos are known for their creativity and innovation in their governance. They were the first to establish the purok system, which has become successful. It just so happened that the town’s Adac’s accomplishments were not properly reported,” Lao said in Cebuano.

Last March 27, the DILG filed administrative charges against 50 town mayors and a governor for failing to organize and activate Adacs in their areas of responsibility. Three were mayors in San Francisco, San Fernando and Toledo City, all in Cebu.

The Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office (Cpadao), in a statement issued last March 28, cited that only Toledo City was “non-compliant,” while San Fernando and San Francisco “have organized and functional Adacs.”

The result was based on Cpadao’s audit conducted in 2017 (which was the basis of the DILG audit) through its Capitol-initiated evaluation program called Sugbo Kontra Droga, or Sukod.

The statement said the Cebu Provincial Government initiated its own “systematic Adac monitoring and performance management system” even before the conduct of last year’s DILG audit.