Food cart program gives hope to reformed drug suspects

After spending six months in jail for drug offense, and another six months for counseling and rehabilitation, 46-year-old Jessie Morales was left homeless by a fire that hit his neighborhood in Tondo last month, leaving him with nothing but more anguish.

- DAPHNE GALVEZ

But just when he thought everything was lost, a lifeline emerged - a food cart, courtesy of Judge Maria Sophia Tirol Solidum-Taylor of the Manila City Regional Trial Court Branch 31, and the Manila City Jail, under an "after-care" program called "Kariton ng Bagong Buhay at Pag-asa." The food cart will allow Morales to have a source of income and provide for two of his five children still living with him.

"I don't want to go back to drugs. I want to change my life. There's nothing for me in doing drugs. First of all, I realized that I was just ruining my life, my family and my job," he told The STAR in Filipino.

Under the Kariton ng Bagong Buhay at Pag-asa program, indigent drug suspects who entered into a plea deal are given a food cart for their livelihood after their release from jail.

However, to be eligible for a food cart, drug suspects should consistently turn out negative in drug tests, which are conducted as they report under the rehabilitation program.

The negative drug test results, Judge Taylor said, are proof that the former drug suspects are turning away from drugs and are willing to change for the better.