THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has formed an inter-agency “after care” group that would oversee the recovery and reintegration of former drug users into society.
The DSWD Regional Field Office X in Northern Mindanao has formed a regional Technical Working group (TWG) for the Implementation of Aftercare, Reintegration, and Transformation Support for Recovering Drug Dependents, which would first implement the aftercare program.
The regional offices of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and Philippine Sports Commission, Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and the departments of the Education (DepEd) Agriculture (DA), Agrarian Reform (DAR), Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Interior and Local Government (DILG), Health (DOH), Trade and Industry (DTI), Labor and Employment (DOLE), and Department of Justice — Parole and Probation Administration forms part of the regional TWG.
It will be the first regional TWG established that would consolidate and synchronize all efforts toward the effective and efficient implementation of after care programs for recovering drug dependents and their families in their region.
In a statement, DSWD said the creation of the Regional TWG is one of the initiatives of the department to contribute to the anti-illegal drug campaign of the national government. No other details about the program were available at the moment.
“Through the TWG, the different government agencies can undertake convergent efforts to provide a whole of nation approach in the rehabilitation and reintegration of the recovering persons who used drugs (RPWUDs),” it said.
The DSWD at present implements the Yakap Bayan Program (YBP), the government’s primary reintegration program model for RPWUDs.
Eight local government units (LGUs) in Northern Mindanao had also entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the DSWD to expand the implementation of YBP in their respective communities as part of efforts to help reach more people. The LGUs include Kapatagan in Lanao del Norte; Sugbongcogon, Binuangan, Salay, and Tagoloan in Misamis Oriental; Tudela in Misamis Occidental; Pangantucan in Bukidnon; and the provincial LGU of Misamis Oriental.
