Utlang: Only 10 of 80 Barangays in Cebu City has BADAC

● BADAC’s main task is to formulate policies and programs that improves campaign against drug addictions and trafficking in barangays.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has directed all barangay captains to organize their respective Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (BADAC), but so far there are only 10 of the 80 barangays in Cebu City have complied with the DILG directive, said Alice Utlang, head of the Cebu City Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (COSAP).

BADAC’s main task is to formulate policies and programs that improves the campaign against drug addictions and drug
trafficking in its territorial jurisdiction with the help of the public.

The anti-drug council will be composed of the councilman who chairs the committee on peace and order, the chief of the barangay tanods, the principals of the schools situated in the said barangay and the presidents of the community associations.

The chief of the police station, whose territorial jurisdiction covers the concerned barangay, will serve as its adviser.

Utlang had found out that so far only 10 of the city’s 80 barangays have organized their own BADAC. She revealed the information when she attended the regular session of the Cebu City Council last Wednesday. During the session, Utlang also requested Councilor Philip Zafra, president of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC), to look into it.

During the previous years, it was discovered that for compliance purposes, some barangays merely submitted to the DILG the lists of their BADAC officers without actual operation.

Officials said that had the barangay officials created their respective BADAC, it could help them reduce the drug problem because it will encourage its members, particularly the heads of the residents associations, to inform the police when their neighbors are involve in the illegal drug trade.

Some officials said that with only 10 of the 80 barangay complying with the DILG directive means that the concerned barangay officials are not sincere in solving the drug problems in their area.