CEBU CITY – The Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), apparently disappointed by the inactions of local barangay officials and anti-drug councils, has urged the public to address the problem of illegal drugs in their area by organizing themselves and not relying on government officials.

DDB Vice Chair Paul Oaminal said it’s about time that the public organize themselves as the board noticed several Anti Drug Abuse Councils in barangays, towns, and cities around the countries that are not doing their job but are only complying with the orders of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) only in papers.

“We call on the public to organize themselves and rise against drugs in the event that their barangay officials and anti-drug abuse councils refuse to address the problem of illegal drugs in their localities,” said Oaminal.

The DILG has mandated officials of barangays, municipalities, and cities to organize an anti-drug abuse council to combat the proliferation of illegal drugs in their areas. But Oaminal said several anti-drug council officials are sitting on their jobs.

“The primordial reason on this predicament is the fact that there are barangay officials who are fraternizing with drug pushers and peddlers as these people have often become their milking cow,” said Oaminal.

Barangay officials during election period make it a point to know all the persons in the household so they could effectively gather votes. But this political knowledge would result immediately to artificial amnesia when asked by the police or the Philippine Drug Enforcement

Agency as to the drug personalities in their areas, said Oaminal.

To address this problem of organizational crumble in some areas, Usec Oaminal has started to organize a complementary structure in barangays called ALSA BATOK DROGA (Rise Against Drugs).

The group which would serve as a parallel force with the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council, which is comprised by barangay officials, would be composed of ordinary citizens who are concern against drugs.

This is to be strategically headed by retired police or military officers whose function is to organize and train ordinary citizens in the gathering of information and proper reporting to authorities so police or PDEA agents could conduct actual arrest or drug raids, he said.

“The purpose of this move is to make the citizens realize that they are empowered and they are equally responsible with local officials in addressing the problems of drugs,” said Oaminal, adding that he is now drafting a manual for citizens as blueprint of the new organization.