MANILA, Philippines — A total of 178,353 drug surrenderers have graduated from the government’s community-based drug rehabilitation program (CBDRP), the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Thursday.
Under the program, drug surrenderers “assessed to have mild to moderate drug affectation” are provided with interventions, including psychosocial support, relapse prevention skills, family intervention, counseling, and education or employment support, according to Interior Secretary Eduardo Año in a statement.
On average, nine in 10 drug surrenderers have mild cases of drug affectation, said Año. He also said these surrenderers are given immediate intervention through CBDRP while those severely affected are sent to other drug treatment facilities.
Of the surrenderers who graduated from the program, Año said Calabarzon tops the list with 38,937 CBDRP graduates from 99 municipalities and 11,870 graduates from 19 cities.
This was followed by Central Visayas with 22,938 CBDRP graduates from 90 municipalities and 1,633 graduates from nine cities; and Ilocos Region with 19,999 graduates from 98 municipalities and 3,846 graduates from eight cities.
DILG is tasked to equip all local government units in the creation and operation of its respective CBDRPs.
Under the government’s campaign against illegal drugs, DILG, the Department of Health, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development would handle the demand reduction while the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Dangerous Drugs Board, and the Philippine National Police would address the reduction of supply of illegal drugs.
Graduates of the program are issued drug clearances by PDEA, said Año.
A total of 5,526 drug suspects have been killed in anti-drug operations from July 2016 until June 2019, according to PDEA. Human rights groups, however, claimed the drug war death toll is significantly higher than what is reported in official government data.
READ: PDEA: Drug war death toll now over 5,500; arrests reach 193,000
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