The Makati City government yesterday signed a memorandum of agreement with three non-government organizations to help reformed drug dependents lead a new and productive life in the city’s anti-drugs campaign.
Signatories to the MOA were Vice-Mayor Ernesto Mercado, who is also head of the Makati Anti-Drug Abuse Council (MADAC), and the officials of the Brighthouse Industries Corp., the Makati Club, Restaurant and Entertainment Association (MACREA), and the Makati Jeepney Operators and Drivers Alliance (MJODA).
Brighthouse is an employment agency that provides janitorial and manpower services, while MACREA is a group of operators and owners of clubs and restaurants and entertainment establishments in the city, and the MOJODA, a federation of jeepney operators and drivers associations.
Under the agreement, both Brighthouse and MACREA will help provide employment to former drug users in various establishments as recommended by MADAC.
The MADAC recommendees shall be those former drug users who have undergone a six-month rehabilitation program or who have been acquitted by the court of drug charges.
But once hired through the help of Brighthouse and MACREA, the former drug dependents shall be subject to monitoring, evaluation and regular drug tests to be conducted by MADAC.
MADAC has already given livelihood assistance to some 27 families of reformed drug offenders since the program was launched two years ago to make them become productive members of society. (Felix Mediavillo)
