BONTOC, Mountain Province – Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director-General Ronald M. dela Rosa commended a local Catholic priest for having composed the lyrics and music of a song describing the government’s aggressive campaign against illegal drugs and the serious negative effects of illegal drugs to the growth of the youth in becoming responsible citizens of the country to will fulfil the dream of the country’s national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, depicting the youth as the hope of the fatherland.
Dela Rosa received a soft copy of the composition of Fr. Marshal Lloyd Castañeda who composed the song, ‘Drug-free,’ a mix of contemporary and modern music.
“The PNP is elated to receive the contributions of the religious sector in our aggressive anti-drug campaign because we really need the support of everyone to curb the proliferation of illegal drugs in our midst for us to achieve the long overdue dream of the people for lasting peace in our country,”dela Rosa stressed.
The PNP chief pointed out the composition of Fr. Castañeda is the first-ever local composition that the PNP will receive from the religious sector which shows the importance of a consolidated effort among concerned stakeholders for the government to successfully curb the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country during the term of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
According to him, the PNP will try to consider making the local composition the official campaign song against illegal drugs but he will still refer the matter to concerned authorities in Camp Crame for them to evaluate and assess the song before being officially made as the anti-drug campaign song.
Fr. Castañedasaid that his composition was inspired by his love for the youth to be spared from the serious negative effects of the issue of illegal drugs because the present and future generations play an important role in sustaining the said campaign for the benefit of lasting peace in the country.
He said the youth deserves the special attention from the government and the government is in the right direction in trying to curb the illegal drugs so that it will no longer be accessible to the young people who may experiment with their use that eventually may result in addiction, thus, the need for aggressive measures against the proliferation of drug addiction.
Dela Rosa underscored the importance of the active participation of the religious sector in the government’s anti-drug campaign because religious leaders have the moral ascendancy in directing the members of their congregations to adhere to the virtues of clean living not only among the older ones but also the younger ones who need the attention from the authorities.
He said the PNP still continue to request religious leaders to support their anti-drug campaign through their contributions in various forms like what Fr. Castañeda did because the success of the campaign will be the overall success of the country in curbing the drugs menace.
By HENT