THE City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Cadac) in Davao, in collaboration with the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Davao Region (PDEA-Davao), Department of Health-Davao Region (DOH-Davao), National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP), and Department of Education(DepEd)-Davao Region conducted a ‘Writeshop’ for the development of a culture-sensitive Information and Communication (IEC) materials for preventive anti-illegal drug education.
Funded by the DDB, Cadac conducted a five-day workshop from July 24 to 28 at the Acacia Hotel, Lanang Davao City. The goal was to generate culture-sensitive IECs for the IP Community.
It was attended by the tribal leaders and elders of the 11 tribes in Davao City together with the teaching and non-teaching staff from the Schools Division Office of Davao who served as the writers, evaluators, illustrators, and facilitators for the program.
In a Facebook post by DepEd-Davao City Division, they stated how they will support the initiative of the city in its campaign against illegal drugs.
“DepEd Davao City, through the Learning Resource Management Section, will continue to work hand in hand with our partner agencies in developing learning materials that promote inclusive education, and support the City Government’s advocacy of being a child-friendly and drug-free city.”
Cadac also revealed that a “gantangan” will be the official logo or icon of the culture-sensitive IEC materials. The Gantangan is a unit of measure that is widely used by our tribal community. One of the factors why it was chosen was because it symbolizes fairness and equality in terms of the indigenous people’s justice system.
Apart from being a symbol of equality, the four sides of the cube represent the four bundles of the rights of the IP Community.
The Four Bundles of Interdependent Rights of the IP community are the rights to the ancestral domain, rights to self-governance and empowerment, social justice & human rights, and cultural integrity.
These IEC materials will be used in educational institutions to help individuals coming from the indigenous community be aware of the campaign of the city, especially now that the IECs are written in their own tongue.
“The prevention begins in education, although there is IP ed already wala kaming, walang mother tongue kasi na magamit sa kanila (The prevention begins in education, although there is IP ed already still there are no materials that arein mother tongue that we can use for them),” Cadac officer-in-charge Ronald Rivera said.
Once the materials are finalized they will have a pilot launch in Tambobong, Baguio District. Cadac plans to conduct more programs in disseminating information to the IP.