Valenzuela program helps drug rehab grads to start businesses
After rehabilitation, 60 drug personalities were each given a 110,000 loan to start their small businesses.
The 60 former drug users are the first batch of rehab graduates. They were sent to a drug rehabilitation facility in Magalang, Pampanga for about six months.
“The Valenzuela City government wants to assure that the lives of the former drug personalities will be fullly transformed. We want them to start their small businesses,” Valenzuela Public Information Office head Zyan Caiña told the Manila Bulletin.
“Based on studies, most of the drug personalities just get into drugs because of poverty. This is why the local government is giving them such an opportunity,” he added.
The grant is part of the 18-month after-care program to help former drug personalities under Valenzuela City’s Comprehensive Anti-drug Support Program, the VC Cares Plus.
The Valenzuela City government, through the City Council Resolution No. 959 or the Drug Rehabilitation Graduates Productivity Program, partnered with the city’s best performing cooperatives to implement the program.
The resolution has allowed the city chief executive to enter into an agree- ment with the San Isidro Labrador Parish Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Valenzuela Development Cooperative, and Holy Cross Savings and Credit Cooperative as conduit of the capital grants.
The partnership aims to produce a continuing effort to combat the drug menace through rehabilitating drug users.
The city, Caiña said, has allotted financial assistance of 110,000 per graduate as a loan from partner cooperatives.
Out of the allocation from the Graduate Fund for each qualified beneficiary, the amount of 15,000 shall be part of each beneficiary’s initial share capital in the cooperative. Meanwhile, the other half of the assistance shall be part of a guarantee fund to be managed by the cooperative to ensure the integrity of the fund in case they fail to pay the loan.
Before the awarding of capital grants, the beneficiaries received financial literacy and basic cooperative training from the Cooperative Development Office (CDO).
Also, they underwent another round of mandatory drug testing to ensure that the beneficiaries of capital loan assistance are drug-free.
Drug rehab graduates who retained their negative drug status during the drug testing are qualified for the program, while those who have not yet submitted themselves are asked to undergo the drug test.
If they will continue to test negative, they will be part of the second batch of the capital grant beneficiaries.
Mayor Rexlon Gatchalian assured the beneficiaries that the local government will continue to provide necessary assistance to the rehab graduates to start a new life — a life far away from illegal drugs.