GOV'T TO DEPLOY ELECTRONIC ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN

Two government agencies and a non-government organization are working
closely together to come up with a localized version of an online
anti-drug abuse campaign called David's Diary, which was developed and
used by the Singapore government.

David's Diary (www.davidsdiary.org.sg) follows the story of a
fictional character named David who becomes a drug addict. David's
life is shown from the time he starts using drugs in his teens until
he meets his end by hanging in Changi Prison.

The Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), the Department of Education (DepEd),
and the Philippine e-Learning Society (PELS), are holding focus group
discussions with dozens of teachers, parents, and students to aid them
in coming up with local content similar to David's Diary.

Telecommunications firm BayanTel provided the funds for the focus
groups. Singapore tapped CrimsonLogic to develop the e-learning
software for David's Diary.

After incorporating changes suggested by focus groups, David's Diary
will be translated into Filipino, burned onto CDs, and distributed to
secondary and college schools nationwide.

Leo Querubin, general manager for CrimsonLogic Philippines said the
first batch of David's Diary CDs might come out in late August or
early September, during the start of the second semester.

Querubin said the CDs would be distributed for free. Plans are already
underway to create a local web version of David's Diary.

Quoting statistics from the DDB, Querubin said there are approximately
1.8 million hard drug abusers and another 1.6 million casual drug
users in the Philippines--numbers that have been increasing in the
last few years.

A growing number of these drug abusers are high school and college
students who start using drugs due to peer pressure and family problems.