KALIBO, Aklan, Dec. 30 (PIA) – The municipality of New Washington, located in the eastern portion of Aklan, recently inaugurated its Balay Silangan Reformation Center.
Coinciding with the inauguration was the soft opening of the town’s Mental Health and Wellness Facility.
New Washington mayor Shimonette Francisco said the launching of the Balay Silangan and the opening of the Mental Health Facility are additional milestones in the public health service of the municipality.
Francisco added that the Mental Health and Wellness Facility in the municipality is the first ever LGU-led facility in the country.
The Balay Silangan Reformation Center in New Washington, meanwhile, is the fifth center to be launched in Aklan after those in the towns of Lezo, Madalag, Malay and Libacao towns were inaugurated earlier, spearheaded by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), together with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Aklan Provincial Office, and the respective mayors of the said towns.
The Balay Silangan is a government program that builds temporary shelters to drug offenders with the aim of reforming them into self-sufficient and law-abiding citizens of the country.
Except for the one in Malay which was established in Barangay Balusbos, all the other recently-launched reformation centers are located in their respective town proper or Poblacion.
The program is reformatory in nature and is an alternative intervention for drug personalities who are not users and are not qualified to undergo medical treatment and rehabilitation.
Interventions provided in the program include continuing education and health awareness, and psychological/spiritual/physical activities like counselling, moral recovery, values formation, and personal life skills. Livelihood and skills training are also provided under the program.
Aside from PDEA and DILG, there are other partner agencies tasked to oversee the implementation of the program. These are the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Parole and Probation Administration (PPA), Bureau of Corrections (BUCOR), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of National Defense (DND), Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which are all members of the Regional Oversight Committee.
New Washington will not be the last town to have a Balay Silangan Reformation Center in Aklan, as during the latest Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) meeting of the province, the PDEA announced that other Aklan towns will also have their own centers soon. (JSC/VGV/PIA6 Aklan)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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