Rehabilitation and Prevention for the Future

     Committee: STEC ICARE Association
     Title: Rehabilitation and Prevention for the Future
     Topic: DepEd Order no.40, Series of 2017
     Country: Philippines
     Delegate: Aleya Oliveron

     As of July 2017, there have been over 5.5 thousand casualties as Rodrigo Duterte leads the Philippine‘s war on drugs. To his praise, the part of the population comprising of drug pushers and users have surrendered, significantly decreasing the crime rate by 26% and the total drug market. In contrast with the people’s views, the president’s war on drugs does not entirely focused on the mere eradication of the entirety of drug addicts. On August 8, 2017, the Department of Education issues DepEd Order No. 40, S. 2017: Guidelines for the conduct of random drug testing in public and private secondary schools. Said D.O. will be conducted for the sake of assessing the prevalence of drug use among secondary school students. With that said, the data gathered through the tests can prove to be beneficial for the prevention and rehabilitation of affected students to avoid having more youth fall victim to drug abuse and dependency. 

     Drug trafficking, abuse, and dependency have been issues in our country for a long time. A staggering 92% of Manila’s barangays suffer from drug-related issues. Our president himself has made claims about the Philippines being a narco-state. To prevent these numbers from rising, it is best to prevent it by doing work with the part of population that is most susceptible to drug influence: students. D.O. no. 40 tests students to assess the prevalence of drug use in schools and provide them with ways to fix any issues that have arose from the use of drugs. Of course, there are going to be people that will be against implementing this order. The sheer fact that youths must submit to surprise drug tests are violations of several human rights such as self-incrimination. Students may also feel that their privacy is being disrespected as leaking of information found in tests are more likely to appear. However, upon reading the whole paper, the D.O. explicitly shows the methods of how the data will be gathered, and how the information will be disseminated and put into use.

     Before any of the tests will be issued, the Department of Health will make sure to inform the students and parents about what sort of tests and processes they will be undertaking. Discussions about the actual test, insight on drug abuse, addiction, dependencies, and several issues will be put to light.

     Confidentiality, being one of the most common ethical issues in the D.O., is emphasized in the memorandum. The actual date of the test will be confidential to avoid the rise of panic and worry among the students and parents. The Department of Health, which will be providing the analysis, will have the results ready within 15 days. Provided that students will undergo said tests, all results will remain confidential and will only be shared by the drug test coordinator to the concerned student and parents. This is for positive and negative results alike. If ever the student does test positive, none of this information will be used against the student in court or in school; no traces of the test results will be reflected on their academic records, and they will not be expelled.

     More guidelines have been prepared for further rehabilitation of students that test positive. An in-depth discussion will occur with the student, parents, and concerned drug test coordinator, where the chances of dependency and methods of prevention will be disclosed. Students will be referred to the Department of Social Welfare and Development or will be provided with private rehabilitation centers if ever parents see it fit.

     It is good to know that the government is looking for safer ways to lessen and prevent crime in our country. Provided that majority of the schools will undergo said tests, this will help the government act more to continue preventing the increase of the population that are reliant on drugs. It will also help the students themselves avoid their own downfall and prevent the country’s as well through newfound awareness provided by the DepEd Order.