FIFTY-SEVEN surrenderees started working in the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) of the Lapu-Lapu City Government by making a footpath and road channelizer.
This is part of the City Government’s efforts to rehabilitate the more than 1,700 drug surrenderees in Lapu-Lapu City.
The City Social Welfare and Development of Lapu-Lapu got the profile of the drug pushers and users and picked the initial number of surrenderees that can work at the MRF in Barangay Mactan.
Just like the employees in City Hall, the surrenderees will only work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., from Monday to Friday.
Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza said the surrenderees are given an allowance of P250 per day, which is given weekly.
The City used its peace and order funds to provide them allowances.
“We give them allowance, enough to sustain para sa ilang pamilya (the daily needs of their family),” Radaza said.
The 57 surrenderees started working in the MRF last Aug. 16.
Radaza said the work of these surrenderees will last from one to three months.
She said the drug personalities that surrendered were transported to the MRF with the use of the barangay vehicles.
Surrenderees with good performance will have the chance to be endorsed to a private company for a regular job.
Guard
In a separate interview, Senior Supt. Rommel Cabagnot, director of Lapu-Lapu Police Office, said police officers are assigned in the MRF to guard them.
Cabagnot said this is part of the rehabilitation program of the City and the police so they would not go back to their old ways.
However, the police noticed that there were surrenderees who make absences and just report to work if they want to.
Yesterday, there were only 31 that came to the MRF.
“Pilion kinsay maayo, mao i-extract ug iadto sa company (Those with good performance will be recommended to a private company for a stable job),” Cabagnot said.
As of Aug. 8, there were 19 of 83 members and leaders of a drug group that were not yet caught. The rest had surrendered and were arrested by the authorities.
During their Oplan Tokhang, Cabagnot said they found that there were other drug groups with 37 members.
Of this, 10 drug personalities were already arrested and neutralized during police operations.