PARTNERSHIP. Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson (center) meets with Negros Occidental Drug Rehabilitation Foundation Inc. president Adelaida Rendon and Victorias City Mayor Javier Benitez at the Governor’s Office at the Provincial Capitol in Bacolod City. They led the signing of the memorandum of agreement on establishing a Special Drug Education Center within the compound of the NODRFI in Victorias City on Tuesday (Aug. 6, 2024). (Photo courtesy of PIO Negros Occidental)
BACOLOD CITY – Negros Occidental’s provincial government will soon establish a Special Drug Education Center (SDEC) within the compound of the Negros Occidental Drug Rehabilitation Foundation, Inc. (NODRFI) in Victorias City.
“There is really hope in these individuals who go astray. We’re giving them a second chance. We hope that such will happen in this center,” Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said in a statement on Wednesday.
Lacson on Tuesday signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with NODRFI president Adelaida Rendon and Victorias City Mayor Javier Benitez outlining the “common goal of improving the plight of our out-of-school youth and street children."
“We’re happy to continue supporting the drug rehabilitation center. We’re very excited having this with the provincial government,” Benitez said.
As a community-based facility, the SDEC will serve as a venue for promoting preventive and developmental services for out-of-school youth and street children to keep them away from the harmful effects of drug abuse and to contribute to their total development as self-reliant and socially responsible members of society.
Under the agreement, the province is tasked to create a governing body headed by the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office, which will manage the operation of the SDEC in partnership with the NODRFI.
It will also provide annual fund allocation for the operations of the NODRFI and the SDEC.
The Negros Occidental SDEC Team, together with the city government and the NODRFI, will formulate the manual of operation and policies for the functionalization of the SDEC in compliance with the requirements prescribed by the law.
Moreover, the province itself will handle the preventive drug abuse cases and needs of the out-of-school youth and street children and seek the assistance of the NODRFI in handling the clinical and rehabilitation treatment of offenders or clients.
Section 46 of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, mandates the establishment of the SDEC in local government units. (PNA)
