The weeklong program aims to raise awareness and promote community-based initiatives that balance enforcement with rehabilitation and prevention strategies.
Jail Senior Superintendent Clarence Mayangao, Regional Director of the Jail Bureau, underscored the BJMP’s commitment to a health-centered strategy in addressing illegal drug use as a public health concern.
“It is important to strengthen what the Jail Bureau has already started, such as information and educational campaigns (IEC) in schools and livelihood programs for persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) and assistance for families affected by illegal drugs, particularly focusing on prevention efforts as key steps in addressing the problems,” he said.
Mayangao added that the BJMP will focus on prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation programs, stressing the importance of helping individuals avoid illegal drug use and guiding persons who use drugs (PWUDs) toward recovery. He also called for reducing stigma and discrimination against PDLs to aid in their transformation.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) continues its random inspections of jail facilities to see the situation of jail residents, as well as jail personnel, and urged the BJMP to intensify their paralegal efforts and review the record of PDLs facing drug-related cases, which incidentally, represent above 25 percent of the PDL population today.