CEBU City Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (Cosap) head Jonah John Rodriguez, on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, said the city’s reformatory center for small-time drug pushers, called the "Balay Silangan" is set to open on Sept. 30, at the Cebu City Resource Management and Development Center (CREMDEC) building in Barangay Taptap, Cebu City.

Rodriguez said they have already listed at least 30 small-time drug pushers who will be enrolled in the Balay Silangan program.

"Balay Silangan is for small-time pushers, wala’y kaso nga mga pushers unya naa sad sa watch list sa PNP PDEA (The Balay Silangan is for small-time pushers who do not have criminal cases and who are on the watch list of the Philippine National Police-Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency)," he said.

He said they were able to meet them already about a month ago, and they briefed them as well on the course of the three-month program under Balay Silangan.

With Cosap in this initiative are the Department of Manpower Development and Placement, Department of Labor and Employment, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

"I-change nato ang mind set nila, nga ang kwarta kinahanglan g’yod patuluan og singot,"he said.

He said modules will still be utilized, while recovery coaches will also be conducting sessions.

The first month of the three-month program will be a compulsory stay-in on the part of the drug surrenderers, while the next two months will be for scheduled reporting only to the program, Rodriguez said.

The reformatory center building in Barangay Taptap is just temporary, he said, as they will soon be allocated budget for the actual Balay Silangan building.

"It would still be at Taptap, naa may abandoned building didto, amo na gisuroy ni Councilor (Philip) Zafra thrice with PDEA, ganahan ra sila sa location," he said.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez said they have already resumed their rehabilitation sessions for community-based drug rehabilitation program which were temporarily stopped when Cebu City was placed again in modified enhanced community quarantine this year.

He also said all 80 barangays in the city have their own community-based drug rehab program already. (WBS)