There is no valid excuse for pushing illegal drugs.

But what if the one involved is a child, who was abandoned by his mother, raised by a grandmother, and then exploited by unscrupulous relatives to peddle illegal drugs?

These thoughts bothered the undercover police operatives as they caught an emaciated, unkempt boy who tried selling them dried marijuana leaves inside two matchboxes, probably thinking he had hit a jackpot with a bunch of local tourists in the picturesque town of Banaue.

As they arrived at the Lagawe Provincial Office or Camp Joaquin Dunuan, the police realized that they had possibly apprehended Ifugao’s youngest pusher to date in the person of a 12-year-old-boy.

A pusher or a victim?

The boy, called Santino, not his real name, was among the first names that surfaced at the onset of the war on drugs which began in June 2016.  

An alleged pusher to local tourists, Santino was placed under surveillance. Long hours of close observation showed the boy’s tactic in plying his trade within the trails of the famous rice terraces during weekends. 

The police operatives noted that no adult appeared to be directing his actions, thus, a carefully planned buy-bust was initiated to confirm his involvement in the illegal drugs trade.

A promise of money and fear of punishment

Santino was sullen and hesitant to answer questions while at Camp Dunuan. A medical check-up revealed signs of physical abuse but he refused to say who inflicted them.

When a social worker from Banaue arrived, he became more withdrawn but adamantly insisted that his grandmother had nothing to do with his business nor the scars on his body. He revealed the location of his marijuana stash, which operatives later found to be concealed among Malunggay leaves.

Being a minor, the court handed Santino to the custody of the Provincial Social Welfare & Development Office (PSWDO), and ordered him to undergo rehabilitation at the Ifugao Reflection Camp (IRC), along with seven other teens from nearby municipalities who were also arrested for drug use.

IRC is a facility that enables drug surrenderers to engage in a community-based rehabilitation program. It also provides aftercare services that would help them stay sober, productive, and eventually be fully reintegrated with their families and communities.  

IRC inspired the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Yakap Bayan Framework of Intervention, an inter-agency collaborative framework which features the aftercare, reintegration, and transformation of recovering drug personalities (RDPs). Through the Yakap Bayan, former RPDs are transformed into community volunteers, and eventually advocates and community leaders who contribute to nation building.

In his first three months at the IRC, he remained unsociable, but nonetheless, participated in the activities. Santino began opening up when he was challenged by a police officer to write down his ambitions but had nothing good to write. He further stated that he was confused about what he learned at IRC on why he was called a pusher. Later on, Santino began crying as he could not write down his ambitions, all he thought is being sentenced with life imprisonment or punishment from his “uncle”.  

Clueless about being a pusher

Santino disclosed that an “uncle” had taught him that selling marijuana is a good source of income since tourists demand for it.  He was given P200 for every sale, which he used to buy things he needed at school.  

Santino shared that he gets paid for every sale, but he also gets beaten up or hanged upside down if he was unable to sell.

Reshaping Santino’s life away from drugs

The last three months of  Santino’s stay at IRC was marked by the collaborative effort of the staff to help him shape a new path in life. 

The Department of Education (DepEd) was called in to help him continue his studies through the Alternative Learning System (ALS), while the Ifugao Provincial Health Office provided a health regimen to address his malnutrition and medical condition.

Addressing his mental and emotional state became a joint effort of the PSWDO and the Ifugao Provincial Police Office.  Social workers helped him develop a healthy perception of family and community while the police, on the other hand, educated him on how to live by rules and the law. 

Likewise, personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management & Penology (BJMP), soldiers from the 54^th Infantry Batallion (54IB) and 5^th Infantry Division (5ID) of the Philippine Army (PA), and pastors from various denominations helped enrich his spiritual life, telling him how God is present in whatever situation he is facing.

The aftercare treatment

Santino finished his six-month treatment phase and moved to the 18-month aftercare, wherein he applied his learnings from IRC in his community in Banaue. There, he had to cope with the stigma of having been arrested as a pusher, resist the tempting offers from his former tourist clients, and endure an impoverished life with a grandmother who can only give minimal financial and parental support.

To protect him from the threats posed by adults who had exploited him, local police and barangay watchmen guarded his routes within the community, while a local businessman provided him weekend employment by manning a novelty store.

Along with other drug personalities undergoing aftercare, Santino joined the Disaster Response Training provided by the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (MDRRMO). They learned to do first aid, basic life support, rappelling, water search, and rescue (WASR). He also availed of the Tile Setting Training of the Technological Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), but did not complete it because of conflicting schedules at school.

Santino’s ambition: A new beginning

According to Santino, the most significant change in his life resulting from his rehabilitation at IRC was his ability to forgive those who abandoned, misled, and exploited him.  He has also accepted having made wrong decisions in the past, and is willing to accept the consequences of his mistakes. 

With the help of the Municipal Social Welfare & Development Office of Banaue, he now lives with his mother, step-father, and step-siblings. He uses his earnings from gardening and other jobs to help in the financial needs of their family.

In 2018, the Municipal Anti-Drug Abuse Council of Banaue bannered Santino’s case as one of their success stories when he was elected as the Grade 6 class president because of a demonstrated higher level of maturity and leadership, and not because he was the eldest pupil. 

He was able to graduate with honors from elementary.

Finally, he has mustered enough confidence to write about his ambition in life and that is to finish his studies and to become a policeman someday.

From confusion, resentment, and depression, Santino has become a focused and committed teenager, enthusiastic and confident at meeting life’s challenges. For now, he has all the reasons to start dreaming again. -30-