Kalinga ‘bodong’ heads tapped in drug campaign

By Peter A. Balocnit

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Around 100 “bodong” or peace pact holders of this province are now being tapped by government in its anti-drug campaign including  civil society and academe.     

This is the core strategy  of ‘Sulong Pilipinas’ of the Duterte administration   in its intensified campaign against illegal drugs, corruption and criminality in the country. 

Aside from the police, it involves local government units and communities in the campaign to improve peace and order in their respective communities to usher development..

Mayer Adong, provincial director of Department of the Interior and Local Government, in media forum told Provincial Peace and Order Council, that one of the strategies to achieve a 100 percent reduction in number of drug users in the province is involving active participation of “Bodong” holders.

In the plan are information and education campaigns on illegal drug during an upcoming bodong summit.

Bodong is a bilateral peacepact between two sub-tribes and has a key holder of responsibility to enforce its provisions (pagta) including at present the prohibition on sale and use of illegal drugs to and among bodong subjects.

Also tapped as  partners in campaign against drug abuse were Kalinga-Apayao Religious Sector Association and Shalom Kalinga, a moral recovery group involved in rehabilitation of drug users.

Mayer also named the Kalinga State University, other colleges and Department of Education for advocacy on drug laws particularly on  Republic Act  9165 to students and adoption of Drug Abuse Resistance Education or DARE in the elementary grades and high school.

To eradicate supply of marijuana which is abundant in the province and control established supply chains, communities were urged to conduct clearing operations on known marijuana plantations and for local legislative councils enact ordinances against drug transport.

Meanwhile, the “Pumiyaan” anti-poverty convergence program of the provincial LGU and partner-national government agencies shall expand its coverage to include marijuana-producing barangays.

This is to encourage producers to stop their illegal trade and divert them to engage in legitimate livelihood offered under the program.

One performance target to deliver Kalinga’s share in Sulong Pilipinas by the end of 2016 is the institutionalization of functional Mamamayan Ayaw sa Iligal na Droga or MASA-MASID in 152 barangays of the province.