BAUKO, Mountain Province – Drug surrenderers in this municipality are now turning their back from illegal drug abuse and are starting a new life.
With the initiative of Bauko Local Government Unit (LGU), it inked a Memorandum of Agreement with the Mountain Province State Polytechnic College (MPSPC) for the use of the college’s facility to open a Community –Based Drug Rehabilitation Center in Ba-ang, Bauko.
According to Municipal Consultant Paulo P. Pagteilan, almost P1.5 million was sourced out by the LGU for the operation of the Community –Based Drug Rehabilitation Center which started in November 2016.
Of the 178 total of drug surrenderers, 58 of them underwent three-month rehabilitation from November 2016 to January 2017. However, only 55 graduated from the program as three still tested positive during the final drug test conducted by the Department of Health (DOH).
Pagteilan added that the second batch comprising 48 drug surrenderers were enrolled in the program in April this year and are expected to graduate in the last week of August.
He relayed that the aforementioned program is in partnership with the DOH, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Dangerous Drugs Board, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and with some religious sectors.
To complement this program, Bauko Mayor Abraham B. Akilit has created a team comprising of representatives from the Office of the Mayor, Rural Health Unit (RHU) and Bauko Municipal Police Station (MPS) for the conduct of Information Education Campaign (IEC) to 14 high schools in Bauko.
“The youth are the most vulnerable to illegal drugs; thus, there is a need to enrich their awareness on the ill-effects of illegal drug abuse,” Pagteilan mentioned.
The lectures of the team included Dangerous Drug Awareness, Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, dengue awareness, ill-effects of smoking and early pregnancy.
Pagteilan remarked that the activity yielded a positive as the students pledged to stay away from and say no to drugs.
Apart from this, he shared that the LGU plans to conduct the same IEC to the different barangays of the municipality.
“This is our contribution in the national government’s war against illegal drugs and to sustain the declaration of Mountain Province as a Drug-Free Province,” Pagteilan ended.
By Alpine L. Killa
