Drug rehab center to open in Valenzuela

MANILA, Philippines — A rehabilitation center for juvenile drug dependents will soon open in Valenzuela City.

Mayor Sherwin Gatchaian said the Teen Challenge Valenzuela Building is the first rehabilitation center built in the country by the Teen Challenge International, a non-government organization (NGO) which helps children, men, women, teenagers, families, find direction to free them from the destructive and abusive lifestyle brought by the use of illegal drugs.

The memorandum of agreement (MoA) to build the center at the city's former Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Barangay Marulas was signed last October by Valenzuela City and Teen Challenge International, a city hall source said.

The building used to be the Valenzuela Youth Training Center. Gatchalian ordered its renovation, saying the city needs its own center for drug dependents.

Gatchalian said the two-storey building has facilities to accommodate young drug dependents willing to undergo guidance and treatment.

The mayor said the Valenzuela Anti-Drug Abuse Council (VADAC) has long been planning to seek the assistance of the private sector and NGOs which specialize on the treatment and rehabilitation of drug dependents.

City hall officials said the delegation from Teen Challenge International led by its director, Rev. Jerry Nance visited the facility recently.

City Engineer's Office Officer-in-Charge Ms. Praceli Nelson said that they will make sure that the facility is designed for maximum convenience of the staff and the center's future clients.

Teen Challenge International maintains more than 1,200 rehabilitation centers in 83 countries around the world.

In Asia, it has rehabilitation centers in Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, China, Burma and one in Macau which has 100 beds.

But the partnership with Valenzuela City, together with other concerned groups like Bethel Bible College and Jesus Care Church, is considered blessed, because it is the organization’s first center in the Philippines," Teen Challenge Asia Director Rev. Jim Lowans said.