By Ernie Esconde/PNA
PILAR, Bataan — More drug surrenderers are expected to receive help in leading new lives with the inauguration on Monday of the newly-constructed Bataan Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center at the foot of historic Mt. Samat here.
Dr. Elizabeth Serrano, chief of hospital, said the center was built through funds from the Department of Health (DOH) and the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) amounting to more than PHP50 million.
Serrano said their operation began in an old building in Barangay Liyang here that was built in the 1970s by the Kabataang Barangay, then headed by Imee Marcos, now Ilocos Norte governor, as training center for the youth.
She said they started with a 50-bed capacity in October of 2008.
With the new center constructed on the same location, she said they now have a 220-bed capacity facility.
The new center, built on 1.7-hectare lot, will offer regular in-house program, outpatient treatment, after care treatment, and medical and dental services. There will also be an art room, prayer room and chapel for spiritual rehabilitation, Serrano said.
The center also has a room, where paintings and other forms of art of the “residents” or rehabilitees are displayed.
Serrano said at present, they have less than 90 “residents” and 300 outpatients. About 60 percent are Bataan residents and the rest from various parts of the country.
“Karamihan ng admissions are from the plea bargaining agreement. Galing sa jail na nag-plead ng guilty (Most of the admission were from the plea bargaining agreement. They came from jail and pleaded guilty),” Serrano said.
Residents undergo eight to 12 months of rehabilitation and the outpatients, four months.
Serrano said that thousands of residents have already graduated in their 10 years of operation.
