QUEZON City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte on Wednesday cited the active involvement of the Church and church-based groups as a key ingredient to sustain the community-based drug rehabilitation program.
“Out of all government-based treatment programs, Quezon City is one of the first, if not the first, that was able to establish a very good relationship with the church toward addressing the issue of rehabilitating our surrendering dependents,” she said during the Abot Kamay Alang-Alang sa Pagbabago initiative last Sept. 3.
Launched by the Diocese of Novaliches, the program mobilizes members of involved parishes to encourage persons with substance abuse problems to voluntarily enroll in rehabilitation programs.
“The AKAP approach is very consistent with the program of QCADAAC The diocese works in coordination with the Quezon City Anti-Drug Abuse Advisory Council and the Quezon City Police District to implement program,” Belmonte said.
“The spiritual aspect combined to the clinical aspect, which is provided by QCADAAC, will ensure a sustainable rehabilitation process for our drug surrenderers,” she added.
Meanwhile, Mayor Herbert Bautista officially handed over a new utility van to the Quezon City Police District for the use of its Scene of the Crime Operatives.
Chief Insp. Joselito Savares, acting head of QCPD Crime Laboratory, accepted the symbolic key from Bautista, along with Senior Supt. Enrique Ancheta, regional director of the PNP Crime Laboratory as witness.
“We can easily respond to any reported crime,” Savares said.
Ancheta said Quezon City will soon open the Fairview crime laboratory satellite office.
The Soco commended the continuous support of the city government under Bautista’s administration to beef up police capability.
“We thank the mayor for his all-out support to the police, especially the Soco,” Ancheta said.
The Soco van is a new Toyota Hi-Ace that can accommodate five to eight operatives and their forensic equipment from the QCPD Crime Laboratory office.