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BACOLOD City – Mayor Evelio Leonardia admitted that totally eradicating illegal drugs was a tall order.
“We cannot totally stop it altogether,” he said during the recent organizational meeting of the City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (CADAC) at the Bacolod Government Center.
Leonardia said under his previous terms as mayor of Bacolod, his administration did its best to solve the illegal drug problem.
But apparently the city had not totally eradicated the problem, he admitted.
Still, Leonardia expressed confidence of making bigger headways this time.
“Given the impetus that President Rodrigo Duterte has started, I feel we have a better chance this time,” Leonardia told the members of CADAC.
The mayor reconstituted the CADAC through Executive Order No. 12, pursuant to Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Memorandum Circular No. 98-227.
The creation of CADAC was not new, said Leonardia, but “what should give us a new sense of excitement and enthusiasm is the fact that we have a President who is very anti-drug oriented.”
Leonardia chairs the reconstituted CADAC with acting city police director Superintendent Flynn Dongbo as vice chairman. He noted the “momentum of the anti-drug campaign waged by the President” and hoped that CADAC would sustain such in Bacolod City. The CADAC members are:
* Councilor Ricardo Tan, chairperson of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) committee on police matters, peace and order, and illegal drugs
* Councilor Em Ang, chairperson of the SP committee on social services and development
* Carmelo Orbista, acting director of the DILG-Bacolod City
* Cynthia Demavivas, schools division superintendent of Bacolod City
* Ernie Gallespin of the Negros Occidental Private Schools Sports Cultural Educational Association
* Atty. Dennis Jarder, acting city prosecutor
* Dr. Carmela Gensoli, city health officer
* Sally Abelarde of the Department of Social Services and Development
* Julius Navales, regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency
* Executive Assistant II retired police officer Celestino Guara Jr.
* Chief Superintendent Francisco Esquera of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group
* Chief Inspector Edison Garcia, chief of the Bacolod City Police Office’s Drug Enforcement Unit
* city government public information officer Danny Dangcalan
* Lorenzo Lambatin of the Philippine Information Agency
* Dr. Ester Regina Servando of the Bacolod City Mental Health Care Center
* National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Bacolod head Atty. Renato Garbo III
* Rey Jereos of Philippine Mental Health Association
* Sara Vial of VIRLANE
* Casimiro Seva of Support Group of Recovering Community
* Fr. Ernie Larida of the Social Action Center of the Diocese of Bacolod
* head minister Bro. Marvin Bergonia
* Muslim head minister Imam Masaranga Magondacan
* Commission on Human Rights – Bacolod acting head Atty. Romeo Baldevarona
* Elizabeth Caumban and Marriane Cleofe Joquino of the Department of Social Services and Development as secretariat.
The council created four committees: Advocacy, Operation, Rehabilitation and Finance./PN
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