Erap to set up anti-drug program in schools

MANILA, Philippines - Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada said yesterday he will establish a Drug Abuse Resistance Education or DARE program in city schools for fifth and sixth graders.

“For the sake of our future, we have to help our children learn to resist drugs and violence,” Estrada said in a keynote speech during the graduation rites of 100 police officers from Pasay and Manila who underwent the DARE officers training course.

He called on the police officers to “give hope to the youth.”

Estrada said the police officers, after undergoing a 10-day DARE training, “are now ready to teach young students to say no to drugs. We are looking forward that you will be able to give the right information to the youth on how to reject drug pushers.”

He said the DARE program was established in the Philippines 22 years ago but was stopped in 2001. It was revived this year.

Estrada said that this year, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief Arturo Cacdac Jr. reported that 92 percent of the 1,709 barangays in the National Capital Region are drug-affected.