MANILA, Feb. 12, 2016 – The Diocese of Tagbilaran supports a drug rehabilitation center in Bohol in response to a widespread drug addiction problem that is bringing a growing sense of anxiety to the local communities, a priest said in a recent interview.
The local church backs the program of Farm It Works Balay Kahayag Chemical Dependency Treatment Center, Fr. Val Pinlac, diocese secretariat head, said in a recent phone interview.
They will funnel assistance from local and international donors into the center’s rehabilitation program to help more individuals hooked on drugs, especially the less fortunate, rebuild their lives, he said.
Skills trainings
According to Pinlac, aside from drug rehabilitation, the local church also seeks to provide employable skill trainings to the victims before their reintegration into society.
The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority is tapped to provide the victims the skills that will employ them after undergoing rehabilitation, he added.
Drug addiction in Bohol became alarming two years ago, Pinlac said. Men and women, young and old alike, have become victims.
Children of migrant worker parents are easy prey, he noted.
Operating since November, the center currently has 9 in-patients and 6 out-patients, said Rene Francisco, Farm It Works Balay Kahayag Chemical Dependency Treatment Center chief-executive-officer.
‘Family disease’
The center can accommodate 40 in-patients at a time, he added.
Less fortunate victims will be charged a minimal cost for rehabilitation, said Francisco.
Addiction is a “family disease” that requires a holistic approach, he noted. Only by restoring love and harmony in the family, he explained, does the true sense of rehabilitation is realized.
The local church calls for unity among stakeholders to address drug addiction in Bohol, Pinlac said. (Oliver Samson / CBCP News)
