THE municipal government of Don Marcelino, Davao Occidental recently established its “Balay Silangan” Reformation Center, a facility which provides a three-month holistic intervention program for drug reformists.
The intervention program consists of basic life skills, education and health, psychosocial and physical activities, spiritual, livelihood education, employment and aftercare services.
Don Marcelino mayor Michael Maruya and Regional Director Naravy P. Duquiatan of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-Davao Region, signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the facility’s operationalization during the inauguration on August 18, 2023 held at the Manpower Bldg. in Brgy. Kinanga.
Provincial Director Cristina Amoy of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Davao Occidental represented Governor Franklin P. Bautista in the inauguration and MOU signing.
The Balay Silangan Reformation Center in Don Marcelino is the third in Davao Occidental and 16th in Davao Region.
The establishment of the center is pursuant to Board Regulation No. 3, Series of 2022 or “Enhancing the Balay Silangan Reformation Program (BSRP),” the guidelines providing for a reformation program for qualified pushers.
According to PDEA-Davao, the “facility is home of hope to qualified pushers who wanted to reform their lives. This is an alternative intervention to those individuals who are not Persons Who Used Drugs (PWUDs) with an end goal of reintegrating them back to their families and community as reformed law-abiding and functional individuals.”
Under the BSRP, the reformatory program is “a process of rectifying or modifying negative attitude and behavior to enable the person to be more productive and acceptable to society.”
“This also includes facilitating the reintegration of the individual back to his family and community,” the guidelines further states. PIA DAVAO