Bigger budget for anti-drug campaign pushed

A FORMER official of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) is urging Malacañang and the country’s lawmakers to balance the allocation of budget for reproductive health and the anti-drug campaign.

Lawyer Clarence Paul Oaminal, former vice chair of DDB, said in the 2012 General Appropriations Act, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s budget for “Drug Awareness” is only P11.8 million compared to the Department of Health’s special budget in 2011 for its campaign on the “use of artificial family planning” amounting to P800 million.

Oaminal said the DDB, which is the country’s highest policy making body on the drug campaign, was allocated with only P90 million while the Commission on Population (PopCom), an attached agency of the DOH that has a separate budget, was allocated the amount of P291 million.

“If the government could allocate funds for the family planning campaign, it should likewise give ‘decent funds’ to our law enforcers and agencies to effectively fight the drug problem,” he said.

The PDEA, which has 16 regions, was allocated with P543 million but was slashed by P100 million.

At the same time, Oaminal proposed that PDEA’s budget be itemized per region so that each region will have its own programs and visions.

“This must be done to achieve the high standard for the training of drug enforcement officers,” he said.

With this, Oaminal hopes that the lawmakers will take cognizance of the drug problem in the 2013 budget deliberations.