Army offers to help Erap implement anti-drug education

From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 8): Army offers to help Erap implement anti-drug education

The Philippine Army (PA) on Saturday said it will help Manila Mayor Joseph "Erap" Estrada in his anti-drug nationwide program through Drug Resistance Abuse Education (DARE), which he started in the City since 1993.

Members of the Army will work as anti-drug teachers with the Manila Police Department (MPD) which has 14 active DARE instructors since Estrada started implementing the program in Manila in 2013

Col. Thomas Sedano, commander of the Civil Military Operations Group (CMOG), said they were willing to train instructors to teach nationwide, especially in remote areas where the Army has active presence.

CMOG is a unit of the Army that specializes in conducting psychological and psycho-social operations or “hearts and minds” campaign in the communities with the aim of winning the support of the civilian population.

Sedano added the Army would definitely add more trained instructors to combat illegal drugs with the DARE program to be replicated in other units.

Estrada, for his part, welcomed CMOG’s enthusiasm in spreading DARE nationwide, saying it will be a big help in teaching young school children how to say “No” to drugs.

“We should not be surprised to see soldiers getting involved in the DARE program, because after all, our President Rodrigo Duterte has declared war on drugs,” he said.

Last Sept. 23, the CMOG graduated 29 members from the 10-day DARE Officers Training course to become the first members of the military to become certified instructors of the classroom-based program.

Sedano said the Armed Forces is thankful to Estrada for allowing soldiers to become DARE teachers.
“The Philippine Army is now taking an active role in the campaign of the government against drugs,”he said.

“It is better if we can do this to other units of the Army and other branches of the Armed Forces to quicken the implementation of the program.

"The Philippines is a scattered island and we need to reach far and wide," Sedano said of the DARE Officers Training course.

DARE, which originated from Los Angeles, California, is a classroom instruction program that taps active duty police officers to teach Grades 5 and 6 students good decision-making skills to keep them away from the influence of drugs and other vices.

As chairman of DARE Philippines Association, Inc., Estrada brought and introduced DARE to the country in 1993 when he was vice president and chief of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC).

Estrada will be bringing to the city later this month a team of elite policemen-instructors from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to train members of the Manila Police District (MPD) in teaching DARE in Manila schools.

Thirty-seven MPD policemen will undergo the basic 80-hour DARE Officer Training course to be handled by 14 DARE instructors from the LAPD, who will be arriving in Manila by the last week of Oct., said Dr. Antonio Abacan, Jr., president of DARE Philippines Association, Inc.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=929800