ILOILO CITY – The Iloilo City government is planning to hold sports festivals in all of its seven districts as an after-care programs for the rehabilitated drug surrenderers.
Currently, more than 200 drug surrenderers from the city’s seven districts and from the Police Regional Office in Western Visayas (PRO6) are busy playing volleyball and basketball matches organized by the local government here through its Youth and Sports Development Division in La Paz district.
Division head Moises Solomon Jr, in an interview Thursday, said the sportsfest is now on its second year and forms part of an after-care program of persons who used drugs but have undergone rehabilitation under the city government’s community-based rehabilitation program dubbed “Crossroads”.
“We prepared a sports program for them,” he said, adding that they decided to give them other activities in addition to their sharing of experiences every Tuesday.
With just seven teams last year coming from the city’s seven districts, this year another team has joined coming from those who are attending the camp-based rehabilitation program of PRO6.
Basketball matches will start at 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. and will be followed by a volleyball tournament until 5p.m. The event officially kicked off this Tuesday, he said.
There is no time-frame as to when the sports fest will end as the city governments intends to hold the sports festivals in other districts of Jaro, Mandurriao, Arevalo, City Proper, Lapuz, and Molo.
“They bring with them their family so it’s like they are having a camping or a family day. There, they cook and eat together,” he added. (Perla Lena/PNA)
