The Regional Peace and Order Council – National Capital Region passed a resolution calling to establish drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation centers or DATRC in Metro Manila LGUs.RPOC-NCR Chairperson and Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez approved the resolution in its first council meeting for 2021, which was attended by key officials of the 56 member agencies of the council.

DATRC is an in-house facility for Persons Who Use Drugs (PWUDs) assessed to have a severe drug affectation level and have voluntarily surrendered to the authorities.

Based on the Department of Health data presented during the meeting, there are currently only seven treatment and rehabilitation centers in NCR.

The centers are envisioned to help drug surrenderees’ rehabilitation and return to normal life by providing medical and psychological interventions. It will also come hand in hand with the community-based rehabilitation programs in Metro Manila.

In 2017, the RPOC-NCR also created a community-based drug rehabilitation program (CBDRP) Policy that provides the guidelines for implementing CBDRPs, which was turned over to the Department of Health and was adopted nationally through a DILG memorandum.

Apart from the resolution, Olivarez noted that the council would also look into the creation of clusters for the DATRCs in NCR and the establishment of Balay Silangan, which caters to drug personalities who have pending criminal cases.

The RPOC-NCR resolution supports Executive Order No. 4, Series of 2016 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte, providing the establishment of DATRCs throughout the country. #