LGU Bayambang and KKSBFI’s MAY BUKAS PA Drug Rehabilitation Program

 

LGU Bayambang and KKSBFI’s May BUKAS PA Drug Rehabilitation Program

When Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao assumed office in July 2016, he was immediately faced with the challenge of how to deal properly with the illegal drugs surrenderers as a result of the Philippine National Police's fight against illegal drugs, in compliance with President Rodrigo Duterte's ongoing War on Drugs program. What Mayor Quiambao did was launch the “May BUKAS PA (BUhay KAbuhayan Sama-sama sa PAgasa)” program, a livelihood program for the surrenderers sponsored by his Kasama Kita sa Barangay Foundation which was then headed by former Managing Director Levin Uy. The livelihood program mainly consisted of finishing a reflexology course, which has a double purpose. First, a certificate in reflexology course will help them have the skills necessary for employment soon afterwards after graduating from the program and reintegrating themselves in the outside world. Second, reflexology and assorted body massaging techniques will help the former drug users to detoxify their own bodies through exercise/muscle exertion and the ensuing perspiration.

Through MAY BUKAS PA, Quiambao also provided an outpatient rehabilitation clinic to take care of them, in close collaboration with the Philippine National Police then headed by PNP station commander PSupt. Cirilo Acosta Jr. and with the help of Rural Health Unit I, to take care of the medical needs, and the Department of Education together with the private sector, including the Rotary Club of Bayambang and different religious groups, to provide for moral and spiritual support.

Each time a batch of surrenderers finished the reflexology course, they are feted to a simple graduation rite, coupled with wise counsels from Rotary Club members and religious leaders. Those found to be in need of further help, i.e., those who had been immersed longer in drug use, are given the choice to voluntarily undergo rehabilitation at a drug rehabilitation facility in Dagupan City, free of charge, and were routinely sent off together with their families through another simple but touching ceremony. KKSBFI provides them free personal kits, on top of shouldering the financial cost of rehab, providing TESDA-accredited trainors, venue, and snacks.

This highlights the humane and compassionate nature of the overall concept behind MAY BUKAS PA.

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On February 7, 2017, Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao acknowledged the first batch of volunteer reformists of the town in their decision to continue moving forward and taking the right track to denounce the illegal drug-related activities they once got involved in.

Mayor Quiambao, together with Bayambang Police Station officer-in-charge Police Superintendent Cirilo Acosta, Jr., led the oath-taking ceremony of the newly-elected officers of reformists at the Bayambang National High School Gymnasium.

“You can always choose to start anew. You can always choose to stand up after you fall down,” Quiambao said, referring to those who might still harbor second thoughts in giving up the use of illegal drugs once and for all.

Mayor Quiambao also extolled the vital role of the newly-elected officers in their proactive campaign in the fight against drugs, thus helping attain peace and order among their constituency and in the municipality.

“Your past should not define who you are. Your weakness should not define who you are,” Quiambao reiterated as he vowed his full support to all reformists of the town.

With this development, Quiambao called on all concerned groups, namely the PNP, LGU, academic community, religious groups, and the reformists themselves to continue the cooperation and unity they had exhibited to make the town of Bayambang drug-free.

Towards the end, the local chief executive bared that Bayambang would have its first-ever rehabilitation center to be located in San Gabriel 1st. However, he said he was still awaiting the confirmation and approval from the officials of the said barangay.

PSupt. Acosta, on the other hand, said that the activity was aimed at giving the elected reformist officers a responsibility and to serve as information disseminators of the Municipal Anti-Drug Abuse Council (MADAC) in their respective barangays through the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (BADAC), thus preventing them from engaging in illegal activities again.

Acosta said the move was part of the Department of Interior and Local Government’s Mamamayang Ayaw sa Anomalya, Mamamayang Ayaw sa Iligal na Droga (MASA MASID) campaign designed to intensify the government’s campaign against drugs.

All these are in tune with the Department of the Interior and Local Government-approved program under MASA MASID called Community-Based Rehabilitation Program (CBRP), "a holistic approach in rehabilitating the surrendered drug personalities and aims to focus on the healing of the body, mind, and soul through counseling and other therapeutic sessions."

This sort of graduation ceremony is repeated each time there is a batch of drug surrenders willing to undergo the same process of rehabilitation.

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Providentially, on February 4, 2017, Mayor Quiambao launched the Komprehensibong Serbisyo sa Bayan (KSB), a project that aims to bring the municipal government down to the outlying barangays, so his constituents could directly benefit from the cache of local government services, from medical, dental, and surgical services down to agricultural, treasury, social welfare, and other services.  It was not just the usual medical mission, but an expanded one. The PNP lost no time in taking advantage of the KSB's roving or mobile character to intensify its own information campaign against illegal drug usage and other crimes.

Needless to say, MAY BUKAS PA helps the surrenderers and reformists realize Mayor Quiambao's own ongoing war, the Rebolusyon Laban sa Kahirapan, which aims to exterminate poverty in the town of Bayambang within 10 years, from 2018 to 2028, through multi-pronged strategies, with 0% 4Ps membership as the target to measure the final outcome of the local poverty incidence.

The brains behind MAY BUKAS PA, KKSBFI Managing Director Levin Uy, may have gone ahead in life, but the legacy he has left behind, with Mayor Quiambao's continuing support, remains alive through the years, from 2016 to 2019, through all these initiatives. (by Resty S. Odon/photo by Jayvee M. Baltazar)