Restoring The Dignity of The Filipino Family

The smallest unit of the Filipino nation is the family. The nation is merely the reflection of what is happening in the Filipino Family. Today, the Filipino Family is under attack. Its dignity degraded by the crimes committed daily.

We have fathers and mothers who are perpetrators of the crime against its members. We have fathers who raped or kill their own children. At times, children also kill or rape their parents. We have parents who are themselves the mentors of drug use to their children. In the testimony of drug dependents, their vices started with what they saw among their parents. How could parents teach their children not to take drugs? When they themselves the first example for smoking and drinking of liquors.

It has been a common scene where children leave their houses in the evening returning only in the morning. What is surprising is that parents do not care, as they themselves are absentee in their homes.

The problem of the nation is not economic poverty, but moral poverty. When we were young, there were already poor families, but they lived with harmony and decency. The family structure was strong and clear. Father works, mother takes care of the home and children go to school. Now, the Filipino Family structure is confusing, it has departed from the conventional and ideal set up of the family.

Today, there are fathers who act as pimp for their children. There are parents who teach their children how to sell drugs. Two years ago, PDEA was able to arrest a university student who peddled drugs in the dormitory. The student was with the university for seven years, and found out that it was he who brought shabu from Cebu City to their province in Leyte. Upon verification, it was found out that it was the mother who conspired with his son for the drug business. She inspired the drug business of her son, justifying that it is important for their daily sustenance.

Many years ago, PDEA was able to apprehend a lawyer in Siquijor who was peddling drugs, arrested were more than five other members of the family. Illegal drugs have become a family business. The mission of the Filipino nation is to restore the dignity of the Filipino Family.

The chaos brought by drugs in our community would end when we restore the dignity of the Filipino Family. We need fathers and mothers act as real parents. Parents should be the shepherd to their children.

Drug dependency is merely off-shoot of the degrading of the dignity of the Filipino Family. A man with no dignity often ends up or easily becomes fall prey to illegal drug use.

In our Five Commandments for Drug Free Philippines, the second commandment is STRENGTHEN YOUR FAMILY, but what is happening now is obvious and is the culprit for the degrading of the dignity of the family. We have governors, mayor and councilors who have paramours, who abandon their children, who go to bars dating women not their wives. These men brags there stupidity, displaying these to their constituents, not realizing that the best and only way to show their manhood is to become responsible fathers and husbands and not as philanderers and men with vices.

About the Author: Clarence Paul V. Oaminal is a lawyer and author of ‘The Textbook on The Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002’. He is the Vice-chairman and Undersecretary of the Dangerous Drugs Board and is the current adviser and presiding officer of Cebu City Anti-Drug Abuse Council. He also hosts the local advocacy program ‘Krimen ug Drugas’ in CCTN Channel 47.