PRIVATE individuals building a community-based drug recovery facility in Cavite are intensely curious about how President-elect Rodrigo Duterte would address the country’s pervasive drug problem once in Malacañang.

Ed Rocha, a board member of Hopeburst Foundation Inc., joins many expecting Duterte to take “radical steps” against drug lords as promised during the campaign.

But Rocha, the cowriter and producer of the hit movie “Heneral Luna,” added it would be best if the next president focuses on corruption in jails where drug offenders are kept and take a close look at communities that harbor drugs and users.

Edwin Roman, a counselor helping adults overcome addictions, noted that Duterte’s declaration of war against drugs is already “making some positive effects.”

“Ang daming natatakot. I know of people who are volunteering themselves into treatment [because of his pronouncement],” he told Inquirer Lifestyle.

Hopeburst vice chair Ruby Diaz Roa said she once had a drug-addicted close relative “sent to Davao under the care of Mr. Duterte.”

The relative was made to “labor and plant” under the Davao mayor’s unconventional antidrug program.

Roa said Duterte “has a style” that made her relative swear off the habit. “He’s been holding a job for four years now,” she said.

Hopeburst noted that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency reported last year that more than one-fifth of the country’s 42,000-plus barangays suffered “serious drug-related crimes.”

Duterte announced during the campaign that his first executive order would be to declare the drug menace a national security issue and mobilize an elite group of soldiers and policemen to address it.

He also cursed and threatened to kill policemen involved in the drug trade, even offering million-peso bounties for civilians who would kill drug lords and distributors. The mayor has earned brickbats, especially from human rights advocates, for these pronouncements.

While evading comments on Duterte’s vigilante style, Hopeburst stalwarts believe the image of an iron-fisted disciplinarian would have an adverse effect on drug use in the country.

“I hope he does make a dent on the problem because eradicating it isn’t going to happen,” said Roman.

How so?

Rocha noted that illegal drugs involve big money and pay-offs to authorities would be hard to top. “The money is so big [total eradication] would be hard to do,” he explained.

Roman observed that unlike drug use and distribution in the 1970s, “now it’s a cottage industry in some places.”

Rocha said Duterte’s “kamay-na-bakal” approach has worked well in his hometown “but what do you do once you round up the people? Put them in a place where they can change instead of just scare tactics.”

This is where the Hopeburst Recovery Hub comes in.

Cavite

The Fojas-Pilpil ancestral home in Barangay Amaya, Tanza, Cavite, is being renovated to accommodate 60 drug patients. Once completed, the venue would be the country’s first community-based drug rehabilitation treatment.

Chair Eustaquio Abay, a neurosurgeon, presented a plan where apart from treating the drug user, the family and the community also undergo counseling and seminars to make them realize that recovery is not the sole experience of the user.

In time, the doctor foresees a scenario where the concept of a recovery hub would be repeated all over the country, just like what Gawag Kalinga’s (GK) model communities are doing for social entrepreneurship. (GK’s Antonio Meloto is among Hopeburst’s board members.)

It took the murder of Abay’s brother by motorcycle-riding gunmen who initially wanted to kill Abay’s drug-addicted nephew to begin the Hopeburst project.

Rather than dwell on anger and revenge, Abay and support-giver friends thought it would be better to create a project that would help change the existing drug situation.

Family

“Hopeburst believes that the problem of illegal drugs is a family and community disorder. It requires active family-community participation to resolve, as proven by the GK experience (in addressing poverty),” the foundation said.

Amiel Buenaventura, who previously worked in Seagull’s Flight Foundation, a rehabilitation facility in Barangay Neogan, Tagaytay City, noted that current rehab protocol centers only on a drug patient’s recovery.

“Once he is declared clean, there is a high percentage of relapse since he will return to the same environment that got him into drugs in the first place. It’s only a matter of time before many patients go back,” he observed.

“Hopeburst can set a template that other communities will replicate to solve the problem. There must be a productive community that does not tolerate drugs,” Buenaventura stressed.

Roman, the counselor, pointed out that addiction is a lifestyle issue.

“More important than their wives, children, God and society. The addict always asks ‘Where am I going to get my fix today?’ The goal of recovery is not simply abstinence. It’s a lifestyle change,” he said.

Incoming Cavite Gov. Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla pledged to support Hopeburst’s project. Speaking before journalists, Remulla said Cavite has a “very alarming” drug problem which makes it encouraging for the local government to support Hopeburst’s initiative.

‘Heneral Luna’

To raise funds for Hopeburst, its board has set a special screening of “Heneral Luna” tonight (June 21) at Glorietta Cinema in Makati City.

“Heneral Luna made people change their way of thinking during his time. It was ‘Bayan o sarili? Mamili ka!’ We are doing the same thing here,” he explained.

Rocha goes back to his suggestion to include jails in rehab efforts.

“If we talk about pushers, they are victims themselves. Ninety-nine percent push to sustain the habit. Now the big drug lords, that’s what you have to get. When Duterte says ‘I’ll do this, I’ll do that,’ he’s probably expressing his frustration about the problem,” Rocha noted.

“I think all jails should be rehabilitation centers. You see anyone coming out of jail and changing radically? With a new way of looking at life? No! It’s also a cesspool in there! Corruption [in jails] is great! I haven’t seen any administration address corruption to the core. I hope Duterte does it. I have faith he will,” he added.

Hopeburst Foundation Inc.’s special screening of “Heneral Luna” happens tonight, 6 p.m., at Cinema 3, Glorietta 4 in Ayala Center, Makati City.