Mayor Marvin Malacon led the inauguration of the Balay Silangan Reformation Center, at the Tumandok Village in Barangay Sto. Niño, E. B. Magalona, at rites held yesterday, a press release from EBM PIO said.
Joining the mayor were Director Marjorie Ballesteros, assistant regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency – Western Visayas (PDEA-6), who represented Director Melvin Estoque, acting regional director of PDEA-6; and Police Lt. Col. Ariel Pico, deputy provincial director for Administration of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOcPPO).
Malacon and Ballesteros signed the memorandum of agreement, as the reformation center will be operated by the Municipal Government of E. B. Magalona and PDEA-6.
Malacon, Ballesteros, Pico, Vice Mayor Eric Matulac, Police Lt. Col. Basman Macarangal Jr., company commander of the 1st Negros Occidental Provincial Mobile Force Company; Municipal Police Station chief of police Major Kenneth Jay Gratones, and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)- E. B. Magalona head Atty. Pierra Lamayo then led the unveiling of the marker of Balay Silangan.
They then signed the Manifesto of Commitment for the implementation of the reformation program of the Balay Silangan.
It is the 8th center in Negros Occidental and the 75th in Western Visayas, according to Ballesteros.
Balay Silangan is a community-based reformation program aimed at rehabilitating surrendered drug personalities across the country. The program builds temporary shelters to drug offenders with the objective of reforming them into self-sufficient and law-abiding members of society..
Municipal Engineer Eddie Junsay Jr. said the reformation center sits on a 313-square-meter lot, with eight units measuring 25 square meters each, and each unit has one room and a comfort room.
The whole facility has an open space measuring 16 meters x 3 meters, he added.
Joining the ceremony were Sangguniang Bayan Members Gilda Parcon, Gelita Parcon, Reylan Gamboa Sr., and Joey Pugales, Executive Assistant Matthew Louis Malacon, and Sto. Niño Punong Barangay Romulo Villanueva.
Also present were Investigation Agent Jeanette Reyes, assistant provincial officer of PDEA Negros Occidental; Annie Abellar, chief of Probation and Parole Office in Victorias City; Jail Senior Inspector Abiding Basilan, officer-in-charge of National Jail Management and Penology Training Institute Visayas Off-Campus located in Barangay Alicante E. B. Magalona; and Ernesto Duremdes, supervising specialist of TESDA-Negros Occidental Provincial Office.
Also from E. B. Magalona were BFP municipal fire marshal SFO3 Marc Stephen Trajeras, Municipal Health Officer Dr. Edmundo Janeo Jr., Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office head Emy Lyn Hibionada, Rev. Fr. Ernie Larida, parish priest of St. Joseph the Worker Parish, and Siern Pellejo, representing the DepEd District of E. B. Magalona.*
