The online database for persons who use drugs (PWUDs) in Baguio City is now up and running.
Called the Baguio Reintegration and Aftercare Information System (BRAIS), it will serve as a digital platform to monitor the number of PWUDs who voluntarily surrendered and will undergo the Community-Based Drug Rehabilitation Program (CBDRP) of the city.
The development of the system by the city’s Management Information Technology System started last year.
Initial training of Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council members has been conducted to familiarize them on the procedures of encoding data and inform them of their responsibilities in respect to the Data Privacy Act.
Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong, being the chairperson of the City Anti-Drug Abuse Council, ordered the creation of the BRAIS in an aim to harmonize data on PWUDs from all stakeholders including patient treatment plan under the CBDRP.
“We need to harmonize our data to avoid redundancy of names in our records since PWUDs have a 70 percent relapse rate even after undergoing rehabilitation – if without follow-up or proper treatment management,” Magalong said.
City Social Welfare Development Officer II Raquel Madlon said a total of 883 PWUDs have undergone the CBDRP of the city since 2016.
For 2023, Madlon said there were 73 individuals who finished the CBDRP, an integrated model for helping PWUDs with low to mild severity of drug-use.
Of the 128 barangays in Baguio City, 124 have been declared drug-cleared but the regional office of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency reported there is still a high market demand for illegal substances in the city despite intensified campaign against the same.
The mayor said with the BRAIS, agencies will be able to revisit barangays to ensure they are drug-cleared.
Offices with access to the Baguio RAIS include the PDEA, Baguio City Police Office, City Social Welfare and Development Office, the National Bureau of Investigation, and the City Health Services Office as the focal office for the CBDRP.
The mayor assured those involved with the data management of the BRAIS will have to sign a pledge of non-disclosure policy and abide by the protocols of the country’s Data Privacy Act and Cybersecurity Law. – Jessa Mardy P. Samidan
