Amb Beaufils asks media to

‘pressure’ for Climate Change

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Nov 9 (PIA) –British ambassador to the Philippines, Laure Beaufils calls on the local journalists to help spread the news about investing in climate change adaptation measures to exert more pressure to policy makers, leaders and governments to walk the talk.

In a press conference at the Amarela Resort, November 4, the ambassador, who separately met with Congressman Edgar Chatto and Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado to discuss areas of potential cooperation and alliances on climate change, cited a World Bank report that paints a grim scenario if governments continue its disregard plans for adaptation and mitigation.

This report finds that “on a business as usual trajectory, unless there are significant changes made in terms of budgeting and policies and programs on adaptation, the cost of climate change to the economy would be 7.6% of the Gross Development Products by 2030, and by 2040, its 11.4% of the GDP,” the ambassador who is in her first visit to Bohol stressed.

Visibly impressed at what she was witnessing and hearing about Bohol’s initiatives on environment preservation and conservation, Ambassador Beaufils said that if more than 10% of the GDP is spent on adaptation-related costs, some development priority areas would definitely have reduced budgets, if things continue on a business-as-usual scenario.

This means, instead of funding more projects, the allocated funds could go to repair, rehabilitation and response, when the damage triggered by climate would have been reduced, if the LGU has invested on adaptation.

While Bohol has in its recent Executive Legislative Agenda crafting steered towards climate-smart agriculture and infrastructure, the bold step needs to be followed through and through as traditional budgeting policies has a way of nixing with these new policy directions, an observer of the newly crafted plan commented.

“If you choose to adopt now, and invest on adaptation now, you can reduce the cost on the GDP, but it requires action,” she emphasized adding that the journalists here can play a great role in writing news about this, exerting pressure on to leaders and policy makers to act on the issue and walk the talk.

Several leaders and policy makers however think that the all-encompassing issue of climate change has been over-rated and is just a creation of the mind.

In Bohol, the issue has pushed Bohol Congressman Edgar Chatto, House of Representatives Chair for the Committee on Climate Change to encourage local government units to declare climate change emergency.

This as several of the province’s islets have already experienced sea levels rise and never been experienced before tidal surges that have breached their homes.

Typhoons have also become more powerful, which the unusually heavy rains off its season, have caused massive flooding and damaged crops, infrastructure and claimed lives.

And if LGUs continue to scoff at climate change and keep on to their business as usual attitude, in a decade, their budgets for development would be less than 11%, and this goes to unprecedented costs of post disaster response, which could have been prevented had the LGUs invested more on adaptation measures.

With this, the ambassador for the United Kingdon to the Philippines, who has identified herself as somebody strongly biased to sustainable environment through protection and conservation suggests LGUs to invest in climate resilient agriculture, disaster mitigation, investing in reforestations, addressing illegal mining and illegal deforestation, putting in place mangroves and moving communities when appropriate.

This however takes so much more in guts than the glory it would cause in the future.

Several of these adaptation measures take huge budgets, strong political will and innovative governance.

Relocation of high disaster-risk communities entail LGU investments on the resettlement site, on making the area habitable, connecting it to markets and highway access, and other infrastructure support.

While these also entail funding support, the British Government revealed its potential funds for projects in climate change adaptation side. (rahc/PIA_7/Bohol)

INVEST IN ADAPTATION NOW. British ambassador Laure Beaufils met Gov Aumentado and Bohol environment officials to discuss possible areas of cooperation between the British Government and the province in furtherance of its environment protection and conservation efforts. (RAHC/PIA_7/Bohol)

SP amends rehab term for

PWUDs in the CBRP WOW

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Nov 11 (PIA) – As a measure to harmonize the duration of rehabilitation of persons who use drugs (PWUD) based on their affectation based on the locally crafted ordinance and the recent Regional manual to guide the implementation of the community based drug rehabilitation program, the provincial legislative under Vice Governor Dionisio Victor Balite is poised to introduce the necessary amendments.

It may be recalled that Bohol Sangguniang Panlalawigan in 2017, enacted Provincial Ordinance No 2007-004, which adopts the Community-based drug rehabilitation program Without-walls (CBRP-WoW).

Well, the move was to provide a comprehensive drug rehabilitation program aimed at providing holistic approach for drug users to save them from wasting their lives, through therapeutic methods, while redeveloping their physical, emotional, psychological, social, economic and spiritual strengths on their way to the mainstream, explained Vice Governor Balite.

The ultimate motive is to achieve a “Drug Free Community or Family” through proper evaluation and determination by appropriate government agencies and stakeholders, based on the ordinance preamble.

Putting the preservation of life as the anchor of the program, CBRP-WoW allows the person who use drugs, be they deeply dependent or a first user, the chance to change through and steer his life away from dangers, and surviving on the support of the family, community, to work together to hand-hold the person back to the mainstream.

Back then in 2017, Bohol’s CBRP WoW, specifically its section 4 which talks of the duration of the program lays down two rehabilitation durations: 3 months program for those assessed as low-risk drug users, not violent and of sound mind; and 5 months program for those assessed as moderate-risk and of sound mind.

The more serious cases would have to be placed under a medical institution for a more intense rehabilitation program.

Recently however, the Department of Health, Central Visayas Center for Health Development, Region VII saw the need to bridge the gap between the knowledge of the nature of drug use and drug dependence and the implementation of the various approaches needed to be done in the various levels of care.

With this, the CHD in Region 7 issued a regional Guidance Manual on CBRP for PWUDs (PWUDs) in Central Visayas to address issues and concerns on provision of services especially at the community level where a greater percentage of those affected needs primary health care.

Instead of the simplified classification and duration of the rehabilitation, and based on the need to fit the ordinance to the regional manual, SP in Bohol, with the sponsorship of Board Member Tomas Abapo, proposes to amend the section to accommodate the general intervention program for PWUDs.

And in line with the regional manual, Bohol proposes to put up a 1 month rehabilitation program for “Low-Risk” PWUDs or those having “mild substance disorder” and for those who voluntarily gave themselves up to authorities. The sessions however would depend also on the way the PWUD is coping and may be extended based on the individual performance.

These would be in eight 8 sessions with PNP personnel who graduated from the Training of Trainors (TOT) for CBRP either as Interventionists and Facilitators.

And then, there is a 4-month program intended for “Moderate Risk” where sessions run to 4 months, conducted in 20 sessions.

The ordinance, when passed in its amended form, would now have a provision for CBRP for those who have been apprehended and mandated by the courts to undergo rehabilitation.

It says that a 6-month program would be implemented for court mandated PWUDs who have Mild Substance Dependency after undergoing a Drug Dependency Examination (DDE), and this would have sessions longer than 6 months.

Such is so because the first 4 months would be the General Intervention and Community-Based Treatment and the remaining months will focus on the Social Support Group Sessions, with an over-all sessions numbering 28.

With this, the SP is expected to pass the amended version to align its CBRP to that of the programs of the national government on the way to attaining a “Drug-free Philippines.”

All of those who would be classified under which category, would be based on the screening result of the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Tool – Brief Intervention (ASSIST – BI) or the Drug Dependency Examination (DDE) to be administered by an accredited duly trained medical professional in the Rural Health Unit (RHU). (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

HARMONIZING BOHOL’S DRUG REHAB PROGRAM WITH DOH. Board member and lawyer Tomas Abapo sponsors the ordinance that amends the CBRP-WOW ordinance of 2017, and providing longer rehab terms for those PWUDs found by the courts fit to be under a more thorough mainstreaming, for a drug-free Bohol. (RAHC/PIA-7/Bohol)