ILOILO CITY — Close to 600 drug surrenderers or persons who used to be into drugs completed the drug treatment and rehabilitation program of the city government here since it started in 2016.
The latest to complete the 90-day rehabilitation held in community change centers established in each of the city’s seven districts, were 188 drug surrenders who received their certificates in a ceremony held at the Diamond Jubilee Hall on Tuesday.
City Health Officer Dr. Bernard Caspe, whose office supervises the rehabilitation program, said that they have set criteria to determine whether or not their enrollees are eligible to graduate.
They have to show good behavior, must be well-groomed, and negative during the weekly conduct of random drug test.
Iloilo City has 3,393 drug surrenderers during the conduct of the “Oplan Tokhang” of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in 2017. They were categorized based on their level of addiction, and those found to have moderate addiction undergo rehabilitation in the Crossroads.
The city government provides a complete package for surrenderers to include livelihood skills training and job facilitation as after care once they are done with the mandatory 90-day rehabilitation.
Last month, 84 of the 209 graduates of the first batch of the rehab program received their financial assistance of PHP10,000 each under the Sustainable Livelihood Program.
Also, 71 of the first batch of drug surrenderers completed their livelihood skills training with the Technical Institute of Iloilo City and are just waiting to get their assessment from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
The Public Employment Service Office also facilitated job fairs for those wanting to be employed.
They have been offered jobs like brand specialist, janitor, janitress, forklift operator, cargo handlers, snack bar cashier, service crew, electrician, drivers, bagger, checker, cashier and Human Resource assistant or operation, among others.
Meantime, Caspe said that they are now starting with the fourth batch of the program, although as of the moment he could not yet give the exact figure of enrollees. (Perla Lena/PNA)
