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DRUGS AND EDUCATION
by BIENVENIDO
BATALLONES CONSTANTINO, JR
 Drugs
have been a problem of the Philippine
government for a long time. When the
Filipinos learned a lot about it the
country was reshaped by drugs, crime
rate increased, and even schools were
invaded by drugs in the form of prohibited
Marijuana.
Furthermore, a drug like "Marijuana"
is still very popular among high school
students. Students who were caught in
possession of this prohibited drug were
being expelled from their school, or
sent to the Department
of Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD). Young people under 18 years
old are not punished, but sent to DSWD
for temporary detention and proper guidance,
then they are released after a few days.
Other parents sent their children to
a rehabilitation center for treatment.
However, problems in addiction are still
obvious in the Philippine streets. Abandoned
buildings or public buildings are the
favourite hang-outs of drug addicts.
Rugby
addicts simply lay around on the
pathways along the streets of Avenida
in Manila. These people are mostly
out-of-school-youths and drop-outs from
classes. I would like to share a story
of my personal experience here in Baguio
city.
One day, my student tried to find
a case study regarding drug addiction,
and went to a park to interview one
of the street children who has been
addicted to drugs. Unaware of the situation,
the street child was attacked and stabbed
by somebody who thought that the child
was reporting their "pot session"
to our student. Immediately, my student
ran quickly and reported the assault
to the nearest police station, but when
they came back the killer was gone,
and the street child was lying down
dead.
The street child was probably kicked
out of school, and got a worst experience
from the drug
syndicate. This kind of problem
is usually rooted in the schools. School
administrators were unaware of the situation
because of the big populations of every
public school in the country. An isolated
case like this is difficult to solve.
Remedies to help solve these problems
have been initiated by the government.
The Philippine
Sports Commission brought sports
into the grassroots of the Philippines.
They went region to region to create
competitions in different provinces
through sports to divert the attention
of young people, especially Out-of-School-Youth
or those that are not enrolled in school.
(Philippines is a country whose basic
education is for free, but parent opt
not to send their children to school
for some personal reasons).
Private institutions also help the
government, such as TV stations who
create segments of competitions in Hip-Hop
or Pop dancing to invite out-of school-youth
or dropped-outs, all throughout the
country, to participate. Prizes would
attract them, and and they would spend
their time on rehearsals, and tend to
forget their old routine as addicts.
DepEd
(Department of Education) also observes
the drug awareness program creating
different activities in form of competitions
to divert the attentions of young people
from drug addiction. DepED also posted
flyers along streets about consequences
of drug addiction.
Street dancing in every provincial
or town festival are also observed to
attract young people to participate
and drive them away from drugs. The
all-out effort has been done by the
government to eradicate drug addiction.
Recently, PDEA (Philippine
Drug Enforcement Agency) has confiscated
prohibited drugs (allegedly from China)
worth billions of pesos, which can destroy
more young people in the country.
There have been more actions from
the present government done to totally
eradicate prohibited drugs from schools
and streets, and promote the importance
of free education for the Filipinos.
additional resources:
BIENVENIDO BATALLONES
CONSTANTINO, JR: was Born in the Municipality
of LABANGAN, (Near Pagadian City) Zamboanga
Del Sur in Mindanao of Southern Philippines
on May 14, 1975 to Mr and Mrs. Bienvenido
Garcia Constantino Sr. and Lina Gabayeron
Constantino. He finished his elementary
grade at Bulanit Elementary School,
and his High School at Palawan National
School, and his college degree at Palawan
State University ( Where he finished
BS Secondary Education major in Physical
Education, Health and Music). Bienvenido
graduated at Benguet State University
with the degree of Master of Arts in
Physical Education and is presently
taking his Ph.D at the University of
Baguio (Graduating).
During Bienvenido's
High School days, he was a member of
school track team, and during his college
days as a University varsity team member
who competed in various track competition
around the country. At that time, he
was a member of the University Choral
group that also pushed his interest
towards music, particularly classicals,
ethnic, and folk. This endeavor also
helped make Bienvenido a successful
person when he won in the National Choral
Writing Contest.
Bienvenido is also interested
in swimming since he used to be a part
of the college team during intramurals.
Track events, however, is his field
of specialization. At present, Bienvenido
is still striving to improve his knowledge
in three areas, particularly in Phyiscal
Education. In 2006, he was awarded as
one of the top performing professors
in the Universty of Baguio.
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