KAUSWAGAN, Lanao del Norte-– A total of twelve surrendered drug offenders who successfully completed a three-month community rehabilitation program through the local government unit’s ‘Balay Silangan’ were showcased and presented to municipal mayor Rommel Arnado, local officials and employees in today’s Flag Raising Ceremony in the municipality of Kauswagan in Lanao del Norte.
The graduates comprise the 3rd batch of successful participants of the local government-run program which opened in October 2018. Since its inception, a total of 50 drug offenders have already completed the program who have now been delisted from the drug offenders list maintained by the Philippine National Police and the local government unit (LGU).
As part of the reintegration process, the LGU provides guaranteed work for the graduates who are locals of Kauswagan and continues to monitor their progress outside the program.
While confined in Balay Silangan, participants undergo a structure and intensive community rehabilitation program with the goal of getting rid of their addiction to illegal drugs and other substances for a period of 90 days.
‘Balay Silangan,’ the national drug reformation program established by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in January 2018 and nationally implemented with the PNP and host LGUs, is a temporary refuge with the objective of reforming drug offenders into self-sufficient and law-abiding members of society.
Prior to the Balay Silangan launch, Kauswagan was already running a youth reformatory center for drug offenders where confined beneficiaries undergo a boot camp for discipline and values formation since 2016. In October 2018, the LGU converted its reformatory center into a Balay Silangan facility to comply with the PDEA requirement for LGUs. It became the first operational LGU-run rehabilitation and recovery center in northern Mindanao.
The Balay Silangan program in Kauswagan provides services to surrendered drug offenders such as continuing education and health awareness, psychological, spiritual and physical activities, counseling, moral recovery, values formation, personal and life skills, among others. Likewise, there is support from national government agencies which seeks to enhance education and livelihood skills of participants.
A series of lectures on farming, agriculture, electrical skills, alternative learning system, among others, are regularly conducted in the confinement period. During such time, participants are not allowed to make contact with their families and the outside world and required to adhere to discipline and values-based regulations, sanctions and activities.
Primarily, the rehabilitation process in Balay Silangan utilizes therapeutic community and narcotics anonymous following the 12-Step Recovery Program involving acceptance, decision making, fearless moral inventory, readiness, making direct amendments, and spiritual awakening, among others.
Due to the successful management of Kauswagan’s Balay Silangan Center, the PDEA and PNP have started informing other LGUs in the area and nearby provinces and regions to take a look and see the example set by Kauswagan in terms of successfully and effective running the program.
“The success of Balay Silangan in Kauswagan is an indication that the program may become effective and successful if the LGU takes the lead in the full execution of its services. For the drug problem in the Philippines to be resolved, such efforts and commitment in the community is really necessary,” Arnado said.-PR
