MOLDING BETTER KIDS. Talisay City Police Station chief, Maj. Gerard Ace Pelare, hands out burgers to children, who are beneficiaries of the Police and Partners Act of Kindness for the Children in Talisay (PACT) program, during the ceremonial feeding program in front of the police station on Wednesday (Nov. 13, 2019). Pelare said the PACT aims to help children of drug users through feeding and talks so that they will not go into the same illegal activities of their parents. (PNA photo by Fe Marie Dumaboc)
TALISAY CITY, Cebu – The police here on Wednesday launched a "feeding-and-talk" program that aims to ensure children of drug users will not be involved in the same illegal activities as their parents.
Maj. Gerard Ace Pelare, chief of Talisay City Police Station (TCPS), led the launching of the Police and Partners Act of Kindness for the Children in Talisay (PACT) which is a partnership between the city police and private stakeholders.
“It is a weekly feeding program… in our place. If we are going to check with the data, there have been a lot of arrests lately. What we want is we will launch a protracted war against illegal drugs by making sure that these children (of drug users) will not be the next problem involved in criminalities and illegal drugs,” Pelare told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
He said the TCPS has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with banks, security agencies and food chains, among other sponsors, that pledged to assist the police in their weekly feeding program for the “vulnerable children”.
The corporate partners, he said, vowed to provide the necessary resources in doing the weekly feeding while the police are the ones who will facilitate in the activity that includes series of lectures to the children.
After the signing ceremony at the Talisay police station, the cops distributed burgers and juices to the children, who went there along with their mothers.
Pelare said they target children ages 5 to 13 years, who can be indulged in weekly talks, focusing on becoming good citizens as well as on proper hygiene and employing holistic approaches in molding them to become better citizens of their community.
Every Saturday, the police will round up the children in the pilot barangay of Tangke, he added.
Tangke, a village of 13,707 people according to the 2015 census, has been tagged as drug-affected.
“We should be consistent in our program. We have developed a tool. Initially, there were 100 children, ang atong gusto (what we want is) we will check on the progress of the children monthly and quarterly. Naa tay (We have a) monitoring tool, and let us see how these children progress in their thinking and appearance,” Pelare said.
If no intervention is done at their early age, he said, these children will surely be influenced by the illegal activities of their parents.
“If we don’t do any intervention, what can influence them are the bad habits. Together with the mayor (Gerald Anthony Gullas), we conceptualize this project that we will be able to get the sympathy of these children towards being good citizens. Kay kon wala tay buhaton nila, (If we do nothing at all), time will come they will be the next criminals and users. So what we are doing now is actually for their future,” Pelare added. (PNA)
