The Department of the Interior and Local Governments came up with a program to combat the proliferation of illegal drugs in our country. Called “Buhay Ingatan, Droga Ayawan” or BIDA, the program roughly translates to “Safeguard Life, Say No to Illegal Drugs.”
Aimed to be a nationwide continuing campaign to fight the supply and demand of illegal drugs, the DILG wants to accomplish these objectives by harnessing, through a memorandum of agreement, the collective strength of various stakeholders affected by the seemingly intractable drug problem.
These stakeholders include the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency which has always been in the fight against illegal drugs, the Department of Justice, the Department of Health, the Department of Finance, the Department of National Defense, the Department of Education, and the Commission on Higher Education.
The DILG has tapped civil society organizations, business and industrial sector, professionals’ groups such as the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and even the religious sector, such as the Iglesia Ni Kristo, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila, and the Imam Council of the Philippines, Inc.
This begs the question of whether this campaign is like past campaigns which, after a strong start, eventually fizzled out due to, among others, various controversies they spawned in their wake, notable of which was the claim of extrajudicial killings.
No, this new campaign is different. First, it focuses on the drug problem not from the law and order or criminality perspective which encourages punishment, but from social, health, economic, environmental, mental, and psychological points of view. Therefore, the business and industry sectors have been tapped to generate jobs and give a second chance to those victimized by drugs.
The DOH support has been sought to medically assist those who are rehabilitating or recovering. The INC and the Roman Catholic Church are also there, for their part, to deliver spiritual and moral counseling to those who needed the same.
One of the great innovations in this latest campaign is that it seeks the active participation of all concerned at the grassroots level, and that would basically mean the barangays in different towns and cities all over the country, along with their existing institutions that collectivize action within the local level, especially the barangays.
Hence, DILG has successfully obtained the support of the Union of Local Authorities in the Philippines, Inc., the League of Provinces in the Philippines, League of Cities in the Philippines, the League of Municipalities in the Philippines, and the Liga ng mga Barangay.
The emphasis on the grassroots level is based on the belief that in a very real sense, barangays are different from one another and have their unique situation that must be factored into any campaign against illegal drugs. LGUs have been asked to submit to the DILG a plan of action and strategies on how to combat the drug menace starting from the barangay and based on the unique experience of the barangay.
Another important thing that distinguishes this DILG-spearheaded campaign from those in the past is its commitment to respect human rights and value life.
The national government acknowledged the issues hounding law enforcement in the past campaigns and now rightfully aims to address these.
Lastly, ever since the BIDA campaign by the DILG started in October 2022, some 20,000 anti-drug operations have been conducted resulting in the confiscation of illegal drugs valued at P9.9 billion and the arrest of more than 24,000 personalities of interest.
This is no mean feat and the DILG asks people wherever situated to contribute what they can, and to at least pray that the administration of President Ferdinand R Marcos is successful where the previous administration, with all its good intentions, fell short.