BAGUIO CITY, May 10 (PIA) – The Cordillera Inter – agency Committee on Anti-illegal Drugs (ICAD) is set to conduct capacity building activity for barangays on screening and handling illegal drugs surrenderers at the community level.
The regional offices of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG – CAR) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency(PDEA – CAR) in the recent ICAD Advocacy Cluster 1st Quarter virtual meeting, agreed to spearhead the conduct of training for barangay officials for the establishment of referral desk, screening and handling, particularly on the execution of affidavit drug surrenderers in their community.
The capacity building activity will also include orientation on the programs and services being offered by various government agencies that could help rehabilitate and re-integrate drug surrenderers as active member of the community.
Based on PDEA – CAR data, there are still 75 drug – affected barangays in Cordillera, while 741 drug – cleared barangays need validation for the retention of drug – cleared status and 361 need confirmation for issuance of drug -free certificates.
Police Regional Office – Cordillera (PRO – Cor) records, meanwhile, showed there are a total of 11,392 drug surrenderers in the region with 8,082 already graduated from the Recovery and Wellness Program covering the period of July 1, 2016 to April 29,2021,
The ICAD Advocacy Cluster chaired by DILG – CAR is in charge of the promotion and downloading of government’s anti – illegal drug policies and programs. It also enjoins all LGUs to continuously support the government’s advocacy campaign on anti - illegal drugs policy and for LGUs to assist in the implementation of measures towards drug abuse prevention and eradication program.
During the meeting, DILG – CAR gave an orientation on the Community Based Drug rehabilitation Program (CBDRP) for identified individuals suffering from low and mild drug use, as downloaded to LGus under DILG Memorandum Circular 2018 – 125.
DILG – CAR also presented the LGUs ' mandate to establish a Special Drug Education Center for out-of-school youth and street children, as provided under DILG Memorandum Circular No. 2021 – 001.
DILG – CAR OIC Regional Director Araceli San Jose, in her guidance statement, expressed gratitude to the committee member agencies for the focused and synchronized actions and called for continuing efforts to complement the anti – illegal drugs initiatives in the region.
The member- agencies gave update on their respective anti – illegal drug programs and advocacies during the meeting. (JDP/CCD-PIA CAR)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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