MORE THAN A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY

F     The Bohol Tribune

In This Our Journey

NESTOR  MANIEBO  PESTELOS

While I visited my home province, Quezon, several times in the past to attend class reunions, helped implement projects and attend burials of relatives and close friends, today it is different from all previous visits. Today, 19 August, I came  to be one of five awardees to receive the Quezon Medalya ng Karangalan Award on Public Service – Community Development, one of five awards given this year, the others being for spiritual leadership, culture and the arts, culinary arts and farming.

On the way from the airport in Tagbilaran City, Bohol, my adopted province for thirty-four years, to Lucena City, the provincial capital where the awards ceremonies would be held,  I was in a van accompanied by my wife, Jojie; a close friend from UP Los Banos, Bing Manalo-Santos, from the sorority, Sigma Delta Phi,  aligned with our  fraternity, Upsilon Sigma Phi; my daughter from a previous relationship during the turbulent martial law years, Cecille, her husband, Edwin, and Aicelle, one of their three daughters.

The composition of those who rode in the van with me represented some marked episodes in my life, more of a coincidence actually rather than by deliberate purpose or design. The others who were supposed to ride with us could not make it for various reasons, mostly for being unable to change previous engagements.

I asked permission from my co-passengers if I could  carry out an itinerary previously submitted to my Quezon High Class 1958 classmates, Nini Lopez-De Asis and Butch Gonzales, volunteer facilitators of my visit during this important occasion.

And so it came to pass that I had a sentimental journey yesterday visiting old friends before we settled for the night in this guest house called WalZen, acronym for the names of the owners, Walter and Zenaida Lopez De Asis.

First we dropped by the home of Manuel and Nora Ramirez whom I knew from my college years at UPLB in the Sixties. Manoling, a 73-year old brod from the Upsilon, had been bedridden for eleven years after a stroke and brain surgery. I remember him as a debonair senior fraternity brother, one of those “crush ng bayan” guys, along with Brods Willie Herrera, Boy Balasoto, Jun Mejia and Joven de Leon  with his lean, athletic body and a perpetual seductive smile on his face.

 It was shocking to see him here on his sick bed, looking helpless and probably waiting only for the final signature, as we used to joke in the old days.

I was proven wrong with this initial impression. While lying in bed, he could do Facebook posting by the sheer ingenuity of being able to position his laptop above his bed and tapping the keyboard with the fingers of his left hand. He could listen to radio and view TV by remote control and positioning the sets conveniently near his bed.

He carries on conversation with his wife, Nora, and guests by writing on his note pad. His ears, by all indications, are still in good order for perfect listening.  During the visit, he asked me about a) where did I go after college; b) what happened to the brods who joined the underground movement in those days; c) how many are my children; d) where do I live now; e) where will I go after visiting him.

We were informed  by Bing, his frequent visitor who would always bring his favorite ayungin and other f fish menus, about his long-kept secret: Manny could paint with his toes! His batch mate in the fraternity, Nestor Navasero, taught him how to do it during one of his visits from Canada where he has lived for years. Someday we would bring his collection of art works and do an exhibit for all  the world to see and be convinced you need not feel helpless while paralyzed in bed.

We laughed with him recalling our crazy adventures as fraternity brods on this campus in the Sixties, including raids on poultry farms just for the sheer challenge of eluding security guards and passers-by and going back to the frat house to other brods waiting for pulutan or sumsuman. As I looked at Manoling on his sick bed, I was thinking that being paralyzed could not be a hindrance to living a happy life. Manoling, you are a hero in that vital sense and we are all proud of you!

Next stop was in the residence of Pete and Mimi Cortes-Ocampo whom I knew also way back in the Sixties at UP Los Banos. I sat next to Pete in my animal husbandry class and knew him as the quiet, scholarly type. Mimi was a Sigma Deltan and distinguished herself as a popular campus figure identified with social causes. We lost track of each other for years but after three decades or so, I finally met her at the UPLB alumni officer where she worked.

I met them several weeks ago during their field evaluation mission in Bohol for CARD projects. My wife and I brought them home for dinner and Pete quickly noted I shared something in common with Mimi: our house was filled with all sorts of files from projects, all waiting to be properly assigned to shelves and boxes all over the house. We validated Pete’s observation in this trip when we saw Mimi’s files everywhere in all sorts of storage spaces and shelves and we all shared a good laugh about it all.

Mimi accompanied us to the office of MADECOR, probably the country’s oldest development consultancy firm, having been founded in early 70s by a team of former scholars and close friends. There I met Pids Del Rosario, MADECOR president who was at one time president of the UP Los Banos Alumni Association. Last year, Pids nominated me to receive the UPLB Outstanding Alumni Award for Community Service and Local Governance. A former awardee and a fraternity brother, Leon Arceo, endorsed the nomination and I got the award.

This visit was in connection with that award, too. When we went home to Bohol after the awarding ceremony 09 October last year, my wife promptly displayed the Mariang Makiling trophy on top of the piano where the other trophies and plaques and laminated certificates were usually displayed. That night after we arrived, a gust of monsoon wind swept away all the things on top of the piano, including my trophy, which promptly broke in several pieces.

The quest for a replacement brought me face to face with my friend Pids, whose help Mimi had sought for the replacement of that trophy. Pids waived the payment for the replacement and Mimi had to bring me here to say thank you to my friend.

From the MADECOR office, this acronym the meaning of which I could not articulate despite knowing the consultancy firm and what it does for underserved clients of development, we went to visit the couple Rem and Kits Bernal-Torres, close friends from our student days through all the decades of alternate joys and despair. I usually drop by their house on the way to destinations this side of Luzon mostly to share updates on family goings-on which could not be covered by FB posting and emails.

The Torreses were usually the willing victims of my unending gripes about life’s circumstances in those days when I was forever growing up. The day with them would not be complete without gentle admonitions to be good.  They played the shepherds to my stubborn self all throughout our student days and those years I had to endure periods of doubt and intense quest for what could be a lifelong mission in life which prosaically turned out to be just to be good at making projects work among the poor.

In this visit on the way to receiving an award from my home province, I was trying to say my gratitude and that of my family to the two of them who had done the most to keep me out of harm’s way in my pursuit of the true path towards liberation from false Messiahs on my cross.

In Lagalag, in this village where I was born, I requested the van driver Rolly to stop where our house used to stand. I remember Rem convinced me to just sell the piece of land left by my Mother and Grandmother in the 80s when they passed away because I could not manage to visit it regularly.

 I looked at the place which had become a gasoline station and I could not bear to walk towards the place where I had spent my childhood for fear I would hear the voices of my mother, grandmother and sister admonishing me for abandoning this place. I just closed my eyes to momentarily pray and then I crossed over to the other side of the road where our neighbor, Ka Nida, stood by the entrance to their house as though expecting our visit after so many decades of my absence from this neighborhood where I grew up.

In the next barangay, Taguan, already a part of Candelaria, the municipality next to Tiaong on the way to the capital, Lucena, I requested the driver to stop in front of the elementary school and called my cousin, Rhodora Pestelos-Renacido. She is a retired nurse who settled in this village where most of the Pesteloses live rather than stay in Holland where she and husband Efren had worked for decades.

Efren came to the highway where our van was parked and led us to their farm house, which turned out to be an elegant two-story building in the middle of what looked like a vast plantation. Dora showed Jojie her collection of dolls and handicraft pieces she has been teaching mothers in the area to make during their spare time so they augment family income. Efren, on the other hand, related to Bing and the others in our group their efforts to develop the place by planting fruit trees and engaging in duck raising.

He recalled that my close friend, Cecilio Adorna, came to visit the place with his son Eman to find out how they were raising ducks for to produce the delicacy known world-wide as balut.

It was around 8 in the evening when we reached Lucena. In front of Max’s restaurant by the highway to Pagbilao, I promptly called my former high school classmate, Nini. She owns the place called WalZen where we would stay for the night.

4.18 a.m., the morning after the awards program. I write this part of the column in a hotel in the middle of the city where another classmate, Butch Gonzales, had booked Jojie and I to spend the night prior to our departure tomorrow.  

We were informed our classmates from high school would come at lunch today for a sort of reunion. I am thankful for Nini and Butch for making our stay here more than a sentimental journey to our home province.

It was actually a journey to reaffirm the common ties we share with both relatives and friends to make life a little more meaningful by dedicating it to a worthy cause. The journey continues. ###

NMP/20 August 2016/4.38 a.m. /Lucena City  

PROPOSED SMALL-SCALE BUT HIGH-IMPACT PROJECTS FOR DRUG REHABILITATION

For The Bohol Tribune

In This Our Journey

NESTOR MANIEBO PESTELOS

For the past two weeks, I was able to finalize and submit three project proposals to potential donors after a period spent in research and consultations on how best to respond at municipal and barangay or household levels to a desperate situation considered by many as a tragedy waiting to happen.

These proposals are meant to address a messy situation where hundreds of identified and self-confessed drug addicts and pushers have been left unattended while supposedly in the care of households and local communities.

 Let me share these proposals with you in this week’s column. I still nourish this hope that new leaders will arise from local communities to push for these projects while waiting for the big national program to come with ample resources, possibly with the PHP1 billion pesos donated by San Miguel Corp. to the government for the building of drug rehab centers.

These proposed projects, which can be considered small-scale but high-impact projects,  are as follows:

1) A facility with the generic name, Bohol Drug Dependency Rehabilitation Center. it was conceived and designed as thesis requirement for the BS Architecture degree course last schoolyear  at the Bohol Island State University (BISU). The team spent time at the Balay Kahayag site in Laya, Bohol to study features of the project site and see how it could be linked to the current facility which the study was supposed to complement and enhance.

The team was headed by Luigi Rulida with the following as members: Isidro Macabenta, Jayson Rey Sayson, and Ma. Josephine Sarigumba. Their adviser was Arch. Nino Guidaben, former Ayala Foundation scholar, an internationally trained heritage and environment conservation architect. As early as 2014, Bohol Local Development Foundation (BLDF) funded his study trip to Davao City so assess the positive and negative aspects in the design of drug rehab centers.

Like his students, he also visited the Balay Kahayag site in Laya to familiarize himself with the place as location of a drug rehab facility.

The proposed facility would increase the intake capacity of the current FITWBK to another 30 clients. It was designed to integrate nature in the healing and recovery process of the clients. The concept of all buildings is from bahay kubo with its roofing inspired by leaf concept

The project cost is Php 62 million. I asked the permission of the team leader to send the design and costing to a close friend in Australia who volunteered to present it to potential donors, such as the Rotary of Australia. Anybody interested in helping raise funds so we could build the center in Bohol could just email us at npestelos@gmail.com.

2) Outreach and Drop-In Centers (ODICs) . I have written about this vital facility a number of times in my column. Under the present situation, it will serve as a vital facility to link surrenderees and their families to an outreach center where can access diagnostic, counselling and referral services.

We have estimated the budget to establish an ODIC including the maintenance costs for a year as follows:

1.1  Building cost for 17 sq.m. structure

       at Php 18,000 per sq m.                             PHP 306,000*

1.2  Office equipment  (1 Laptop; LCD; 2

       tables; 6 chairs; 1 electric fan)                             62,500

1.3  Staff (1 Psychologist; 1 Social

       Worker)                                                                  387,525

1.4   Utilities (Light and water; office

         supplies; communication and

         transport)                                                               74,400

TOTAL                                                                     PHP 830,425

If there is an existing office space or underutilized building which can be used as outreach center, the e the annual cost to maintain an ODIC will be:  Php 524, 425.

Additional costs will be consultancy fees for trainers who will train the ODIC staff and to include training supplies, food, etc. : Php 100,000. Hence, the total costs to establish and maintain one ODIC for one year will be: Php 624,425. Several municipalities can share a common ODIC to reduce the operations costs and achieve efficiency in operations.

3) Good Samaritan Project.

The first project I came up with more than a month ago. The title is tentative. In our consultation meeting, Fr. Rara said we must change the name because people from other religions may not like the term. No problem with the suggestion. The title is tentative; it can still be revised.

The project concept was based on the familiar Biblical passage on the Good Samaritan which our action group at the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals  (BCBP) reflected on during one of our meetings. I spun it off as a project concept based on the idea that we could be our brother’s keeper during this time that needy persons are, as it were, left dying and helpless by the road.

I believe that this can be done while waiting for the Government to establish a drug rehab center in addition to the one we have now which you have visited.

Basically it is a community participation approach to address the presence of an overwhelming number of drug users without a counselling or treatment program. We can pilot this in the three municipalities which are in the catchment area of the FARM It Works Balay Kahayag (FITWBK) Chemical Dependency Treatment Center.

We can work with either the Church, an NGO or LGU to coordinate the project. We can start with a budget of Php 200,000 to Php 500,000 per municipality, depending on its population size and topography,  which will pay for administrative, training and social preparation costs. The important thing is to reach out to the drug users as early as possible, categorize them as to the severity of addiction, refer serious cases to the drug rehab center and provide counseling and other interventions, e.g. livelihood to drug users in other categories.

Here are the specifics of the project so that we need not think of rehabilitation in terms of a rehabilitation center:

For background and rationale, I note:

Even prior to the ascension to power of the new national Administration, which has pledged to eradicate in six months the pernicious drug abuse problem and drug-related crimes  in the country, there has been a spate of killings of drug pushers and drug lords, and probably a number of ordinary drug users.

The situation has created a climate of fear which has led to the surrender of an overwhelming number of drug pushers and users all over the country. In Bohol, for instance, the number of those who surrendered have increased from an initial 3,000 to than 30,000 in less than a month. Due to lack of drug rehabilitation centers, coupled with the high cost of rehabilitation, it is expected that most of those who surrendered will end up in the custody of their respective families without access to systematic counselling and treatment,

It is common knowledge, however, that drug addiction results in brain damage and psychological aberrations and the families are not equipped to handle such day-to-day problems that may arise on account of these factors.

The situation arising from the mass surrender of drug users requires a systematic pre-treatment, treatment and post-treatment process undertaken under the guidance of a rehabilitation center or drug addiction professionals working in close coordination with the affected families and local communities.

This project represents an effort to address the problems that may arise on account of the mass surrender of drug users and the need to assist the family cope with possible problems that may occur on account of lack of access to adequate rehabilitation services.

For Overall Goal, I put the following:
To ensure that each surrenderee is provided a comprehensive and appropriate package of services from pre-treatment to full recovery.

I listed the following as specific objectives

a.       To establish baseline data on the condition of each surrenderee which will serve as basis for treatment and post-treatment interventions;

b.      To ensure systematic provision of counselling and other services with the full cooperation and assistance of the family and the local community, as well as the local government;

c.       To monitor regularly the progress of each client and adjust inputs accordingly;

d.      To document outstanding cases of full recovery and successful integration with both the family and the community.

To achieve these objectives, I put the following as comprising the implementation strategy of the project:  

a)      Partnership with all key sectors with specific inputs to deliver;

b)      Mobilization of volunteers who will be organized into teams assigned to specific cluster of target clients in specific location and linked to specific focal person in the project management committee;

c)       Organization of families of clients to ensure spiritual and other support to target clients.

d)      Designation of a pilot area where implementation approaches can be tested based on current organizational capability, existence of willing partners, and affordability.

For key activities, I listed the following:

-Link up with drug rehab centers in nearby regions and consult them if they can help conduct a systematic diagnosis of those arrested and those who surrendered to determine a) who can be treated at home; b) those who must be treated in a drug rehab facility; and (c) those whose mental conditions has worsened due to long period of drug use and must be committed to a mental hospital instead.

-Recruit and train volunteers who can serve as counsellors for both drug abuse victims and their respective families;

-Train nursing, psychology and/or social work or social science students and their teachers on the use of diagnostic tools so that the diagnosis could be done on a massive scale simultaneously to cover most of the 30,000 surrenderees;

-Formulate and implement a short-term orientation or basic skills training course for all the volunteers who are willing to do this work;

-Liaise with partner drug rehab centers and institutions and seek their advice on how to fast-tract treatment at substantially lower costs;

-Organize an interim core team who will assist in mobilizing support from all sectors (Government, Church and faith-based organizations; private sector; civil society organizations, academic institutions, etc.

-Get an updated list of surrenderees and all relevant data about them for planning purposes.

For Organization and Management, I listed the following:

--Decide on the initial coverage area of the project which will serve as learning site for approaches, methodologies and detailed organization work of building local area teams linked to central management

-Get a list of identified surrendeeres per area (barangay; purok)

-Organize them into 5-member Units; let them elect a leader among themselves; designate a place where they can meet regularly. A Project Officer (PO), who will come from the coordinating organization, will handle initially one Unit  assisted by a volunteer to come from partner institution such as Holy Name University (HNU) or other academic institutions, Church group, etc.

The Assistant Project Officer (APO) , who can either be a Volunteer or a member of the coordinating agency,  will be trained to assume the tasks of the PO someday so there is a system for recruiting more volunteers to do this vital task.

-All POs will be trained on how to perform their various tasks; they can be organized as a group, too.

-Likewise all APOs will be organized as a group, too, so systematic training inputs can be provided  and the sharing of experiences facilitated. All Unit Leaders may also be organized as a group for the purpose of imparting training skills.

-A Project Management Committee (PMC) will be organized at a higher level to supervise two teams 

– a Project Support Team to take care of logistics and funding and admin support; and a Training and Advocacy Team to handle training and  information support to project operations.

I also proposed that Families of GSN Members will be organized  into a GSN Family Association and can elect their own officers and a PO assigned to it, too. It can be linked to the PMO.For comments, email: npestelos@gmail.com  ### NMP/13 Aug 2016/5.13 a.m. 

PRACTICAL INITIATIVES

For The Bohol Tribune

In This Our Journey

NESTOR MANIEBO PESTELOS

Starting this week, we have heard practical initiatives on how to cope with more than 100, 000 illegal drug users and pushers who have surrendered to police authorities for fear to end up as corpses in the current deadly war launched by the Duterte administration.

Aside from news about gruesome killings which readers have been used to during the past few weeks, the scene has brightened up with actual initiatives either proposed or put on the ground to respond to the need for surrenderees to pass through a systematic process of diagnosis, counselling and for others, a more intensive treatment and recovery process.

For Bohol, a meeting is being held at this time while we are writing this column today, 04 August, by the Provincial Anti-Drug Council (PADAC) presided by Gov. Edgar Chatto. The meeting seeks  to finalize details on how to operationalize in two weeks’ time a Counseling and Rehabilitation Center.

The facility will be located at the Oak Brook Building near the St. Joseph Cathedral and will be staffed by a doctor, social worker, nurse and clerk, according to Dave Charles Responte, who posted the early news about the meeting on Facebook along with picures taken by Ric Obedencio.

A long way to go to cope with the 30,000 identified drug addicts and pushers who have surrendered the past few weeks, but a significant initial step to provide a contact point where drug abuse victims can be categorized and provided initial counselling and advice for referral and treatment.

As described by the FB posting, the facility looks like an Outreach and Drop-In Center (ODIC), which is a sort of half-way house to a regular drug rehab center. We hope it will happen soon and made operational so municipal LGUs and private sector entities can learn how to establish and operate one. In previous columns, based on the experience of health ministries and local governments in other countries, we have noted such facility is quite important to serve as information, diagnostic and referral centers for drug addiction cases.

In our own estimate, such facility, if it will use an existing building or office, will cost only around Php 350,000 to maintain in a year for a staff of three and other office requirements. Most LGUs can afford such cost. In fact, the facility can require payment for its services to make it sustainable.

With such huge number of drug users, however, which may reach more than 30,000, building such facilities as a counselling and drop-in centers will not be sufficient to cope with the need to provide comprehensive treatment and post-treatment services. In fact, we need more than one drug rehabilitation and mental hospital as planned to be located in the Municipality of Carlos P. Garcia under the draft Development Framework of the Province of Bohol.

It looks like we need to launch a vigorous advocacy and marketing campaign so that the private sector, including the existing drug rehab centers in other regions, will find it attractive to establish branches here in the province where they can be assured of substantial support from the Government and other stakeholders, such as the business community, who will be among those affected adversely if hundreds of illegal drug users remain untreated.

Meanwhile, let us study some practical initiatives either proposed or launched in some areas of the country to cope with the overwhelming number of surrenderees expected to reach more than 150,000 by this month.

Fr. Fernando Po, drug awareness guru and development advocate, called our attention early this week about an initiative championed by ex-drug addict–turned-Congressman, Arnolfo Teves, Jr. of Negros Oriental.

Congressman Teves proposes that:

-Public high school classrooms be used as rehabilitation centers from 5 pm to 8 p.m. because classrooms are no longer in use at this time. He says this is the time when an addict’s day normally starts, when the addict has the most cravings for drugs.

-Around 50 drug dependents to stay in a classroom and their rehabilitation program to be conducted by two primary counselors, two secondary counselors, and two volunteers.

-Participants to attend 8 am-to-9 am meetings at barangay covered courts.

-An optional physical therapy session, which may include a game of basketball or a session of zumba, to follow from 9 am to 10 am.

-The daily rehabilitation program to be implemented in the span of 8 to 12 weeks.

If approved by the Duterte administration, he plans to coordinate with different local government units. He says his proposed rehabilitation program would only cost the government Php 2,500 per drug dependent.

In Iloilo City, Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog said the city government would allocate Php 5 million initially from its peace and order fund to establish drop-in centers to address the needs of surrenderees with mild and moderate addiction. He said those with severe cases will be referred to the Department of Health.

Mayor Mabilog noted that most families cannot afford the cost of treatment, which may last from three to six months. In the Western Visayas region, treatment cost, excluding medicines, ranges from Php 10,000 monthly in government centers and Php 25,000 to Php 60,000 monthly in private facilities.

The drop-in center, to be established in each of the city’s six districts, will employ a psychologist, a nurse, three peer facilitators and a record custodian or utility person. Clients will be provided periodic drug testing, spiritual and psycho-social counseling, vitamins and post-care follow-up for a period of one year.

For the national government, Pres. Duterte announced in last night’s meeting with volunteers in the recent elections that he would convert military camps into drug rehab facilities complete with doctors, nurses, and social workers. He did not indicate a time frame for this remarkable plan.

In a press conference in Jaro, Iloilo City last 05 July, Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial announced that all regional offices have been ordered “to really prioritize community-based rehabilitation centers.” She said that not all drug dependents have to be residential or have to be committed to a facility.

According to her, the DOH treatment and rehabilitation centers have been trained to establish community-based centers and what is now needed is getting the cooperation of local government units.

She compares the community-based drug rehabilitation approach to a parole program wherein a drug addict who surrenders reports to his or her barangay officials everyday.

"We do random drug test, any time that they report, they can be tested. If they test positive, they have to undergo screening by our doctors, and if need be, they have to be committed to facilities. Not all who surrender will be automatically committed to a facility," she explained.

The DOH head said that the program also includes after-care, with government continuing to support a "graduate" of the treatment and rehabilitation center even after he or she returns to the community. She disclosed that the community-based drug rehabilitation approach was pilot-tested in Davao City years ago.

It is expected that the community-based drug rehabilitation approach will be replicated throughout the country through the DOH regional offices in collaboration with local government units.

The health secretary said scaling up the program would entail the training of LGU and barangay officials who will facilitate community-based rehabilitation services. DOH will tap LGUs and non-governmental organizations to help in assisting patients who may not be accommodated by existing treatment and rehabilitation centers. Private facilities can expand to admit some of the patients, but government will pay for residential treatment.

For the long term, DOH will convert some facilities into treatment and rehabilitation centers soon, in collaboration with LGUs. The DOH will shoulder the centers' operating expenses, and LGUs will provide the personnel.

The report says the health department's Health Facilities Enhancement Program has a P26.87 billion allocation in the 2016 budget. Of this amount, P18.96 billion is for the construction, expansion, rehabilitation, and repair of health facilities, including dangerous drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation centers.

Meanwhile, the killing continues. More and more drug users and pushers, out of fear, are swelling the ranks of surrenderees from day to day. It’s about time the practical initiatives which have been proposed are planned, funded and implemented.

Otherwise the war against illegal drugs will just be a grand horror show for our country and the whole world. For comments, email npestelos@gmail.com.

NMP/04 Aug. 2016/9.41 p.m.

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