VIC 'TABONG' Valenzona Jr., for instance, seems to have his social calendar full for at least the next several months. He has just failed to get in a ballet program at the Amoranto Stadium, but although the 15-year-old confesses to a love for dancing, he says he won't be losing sleep over his recent disappointment. In fact, when visitors found him at one of the day-care centers one Sunday morning soon after he flunked the audition, he was happily playing chess with Kathy Osacia, who is 13. But he and Kathy politely stopped their game to answer questions, and it didn't take him long to start talking about another passion, fashion designing.

More immediately, though, Tabong is looking forward to the training that he, Kathy, and several other friends will be given to learn how to counsel their peers against the dangers of drugs. There are also the sports activities the day-care center is organizing in the coming months, and a fashion show where Kathy will be the star.

Children of all ages go to Tatalon's day-care centers any time they want to, and play board games, read books, or just shoot the breeze with their barkada (group). The youth organization leads them in various activities as well — educational trips, cultural presentations, singing and dancing soirees. (View a slide show here.)

The children at the day-care centers are not necessarily those considered to be more prone than others to substance abuse, since the centers are open to anyone who wants to use the facilities or take part in the activities there. In the beginning, however, the KKPC targeted specifically those children it considered most "at risk," which it defined as those who had family members who were drug users or had already started to abuse substances themselves.

The KKPC talked to the mothers, convincing these not to lose hope. It even laid out its plans to bring out-of-school children back into the classroom. Today the KKPC reports that since funding for the program began two years ago, 152 children have resumed their studies.

Putting the children back in school is a strategy borne out by studies that show a positive correlation between education and keeping them off drugs. The YAFS 3, for one, says that those who were out of school and those with the lowest level of educational attainment exhibit "far greater levels of risk behavior" — including drug use — than those in school. When the Ateneo researchers did their study in Tatalon, about a third of the school-age children there were not attending classes. The average length of schooling of children here was eight years, or up to second-year high school.

Bench Ondinero himself says that the only reason he was able to finish high school was because his mother had dragged him all the way to Marinduque, far from his "jamming" friends. But then he graduated and returned to Tatalon, which was then still practically a drug den. Ondinero says he tried several times to quit, especially when he thought of what he was putting his mother through. But he kept on failing. Had not the barangay slowly cleaned itself up, Ondinero and his friends may still be jamming away.

That Ondinero keeps on praying not to be tempted ever again by drugs is no sign that he is weak, or that Tatalon is about to see a return of shabu being sold by bilao-toting vendors. The US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) says that addiction, to begin with, "is too complex to be cured by a single magic bullet" — whether that bullet is a six-month-stay in a P25,000-a-month private rehabilitation center, or a community-based program comprising of counseling and going back to school.

"Addiction is a chronic, relapsing disorder," says Dr. Alan Leshner of the US NIDA. "It is not like breaking a bone. It is more like diabetes and chronic hypertension, where there will be or is a high risk of occasional relapse."

THE KKPC'S Evelyn Galang, for her part, says that just as drug addicts have a hard time quitting their habit, it is also not easy for a community to be rid of drugs. "Magwalis ka ngayon, may dumi na naman (You sweep today, tomorrow there's dirt again)," she quips. The trick is to keep on sweeping, anyway, and in unison. At the same time, it is important for those who are already addicted to be reconnected to the community, to know that they are still part of it, and that it will always welcome them back.

Ateneo's Crisol meanwhile cautions that Tatalon's drug prevention strategy may not necessarily have similar results in other areas. "It works because (the proponents have) taken note of peculiar characteristics (in that community)," she says. Thus, she adds, replication will not always be easy. "The conditions for success," says Crisol, "will be different because these communities are very different."

The U.N. International Drug Control Programme also says any strategy will not turn in very obvious results in a few years; rather, they will come after years of consistent efforts. But, says the U.N., those results will be permanent.

At present, the KKPC's programs cover just a third of Tatalon. These areas, however, already report seeing clear changes in their respective drug situations — which have been noted by authorities and even foreign experts.

Just a few months ago, Tatalon received a huge delegation of local and foreign observers led by the Dangerous Drugs Board and the UNODC. One of the local teams regaled them with stories about the program, and showed the visitors maps and photographs. In return, the delegation from the UNODC gave them a plaque. Recounts the team leader with palpable pride: "They saw that there are many people here who want to work toward effecting change."

Late last year, Galang had also flown to Bangkok to share Tatalon's stories with a group discussing best practices in drug prevention. Galang — a school teacher by profession with four grown children — says gleefully, "Mga First World ang kasama ko doon (My co-participants were from the First World)!" She also reports happily that a U.N. agency recently wrote to tell her that Tatalon will be part of a publication on pioneering ways to battle drug abuse.

She says, though, that one of the best rewards they have gotten from their efforts is the community's realization that it is not helpless. Says Galang: Bago kami kumilos, palobo lang nang palobo ang problema. Ngayon alam na naming may magagawa kami (Before, the problem just kept on getting bigger and bigger while we just watched. Now we know there is something we can do)."