DAVAO CITY”•The Local Government of Davao received an award from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for the city’s exemplary anti-drug program—The Tabangan ang Reformists aron Naay Asenso (Tara Na), after a Visayan phrase that means “help the drug reformists prosper.”
PDEA recognized the efforts of the City Anti-Drug Abuse Council for its advocacy to help people overcome addiction through a community-based program.
Mayor Sara Duterte also lauded the effort of Cadac for attending the needs of recovering drug users of the city.
“I thank the members of Cadac for their innovation, especially the Tara Na program which is the community-based rehab,” she said.
Through the Tara Na program, the drug surrenderers can have their therapy in the community instead of entering a rehabilitation facility.
“For me, Tara Na program is very effective intervention initiated by Cadac since the barangay plays a big part and also the community,” the mayor said.
Despite the big success of the city’s anti-drug campaign, Duterte refuses to declare a single barangay in the city as drug-free.
“I refused to sign the documents declaring barangays in the city as drug free,” she said. “I already wrote to the Department of Interior and Local Government asking for the parameters in declaring a drug free barangay.”
The mayor explained that it was the DILG who was convincing her to sign the document as one of the requirement to be part of the Seal of Good Local Governance awardee, which the city won recently.
“It is fine with me if Davao City will not receive the award just because I did not declare a drug free barangay, than to be blamed later on in declaring one while in fact there are still drug users or pushers in that barangay,” she said.
