BACOLOD City – Some 144 persons who used drugs (PWUDs) have completed the Community-Based Rehabilitation Program (CBRP) in Sipalay City, Negros Occidental since the second half of 2019.
In a report on Monday, the city government said the latest group included 32 participants who completed the five-day program earlier this month.
Mayor Maria Gina Lizares, who witnessed the graduation of the recent batch on July 17, said the rehabilitation program aims to prevent the PWUDs from returning to substance abuse.
The latest 32 PWUDs, part of the third batch, are residents of Barangays 2 and Cayhagan.
The first batch of 24 graduates completed the CBRP late last year while the remaining 88 comprised the second batch who attended and finished the sessions in the first quarter of this year.
These 112 PWUDs hailed from barangays 1, 3, 4, Cabadiangan, Camindangan, Canturay, Cartagena, Mambaroto, Manlucahoc, and Nauhang.
The three batches all came from 12 villages, therefore only the PWUDs from the five remaining barangays need to undergo the program.
Lizares said the restrictions brought by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic have brought negative effects to the city’s anti-drug abuse campaign.
“We were supposed to hold on-site validation of the latest two barangays, but the pandemic has affected the schedules of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and our stakeholders,” she added.
Still, the mayor remains hopeful that the PDEA-Western Visayas will be able to conduct the validation of the two remaining villages by the end of the year.
Lizares said the goal is to make all 17 barangays drug-cleared by the end of 2022.
The CBRP is being implemented by the City Anti-Drug Abuse Council together with the Sipalay City Police Station, Department of the Interior and Local Government-Sipalay City, City Health Office, and the City Social Welfare and Development Office.
The city’s partners include the PDEA-Negros Occidental, Negros Occidental Provincial Health Office and the Negros Occidental Drug Rehabilitation Foundation Inc. (With a report from PNA/PN)
