The Sanctuary Center in Mandaluyong recently held their 27th anniversary. Under the management of the Department of Social Welfare and Development – National Capital Region (DSWD-NCR), it carried the theme “Sama-sama, tulong-tulong sa Ikadalawamput-pitong taon ng pagtataguyod sa karapatan ng mga kababaihang may kapansanan”. It was a month-long celebration of the importance of the center as the only government rehabilitation center and residential care facility mandated to the rehabilitation of female with improved mental condition and their eventual reintegration to the community.
Ms. Margarita J. Ortega, Officer-In-Charge for the center, led the opening ceremony for the Sports fest, where banners representing each service/unit together and their selected clients as their members were paraded within the vicinity. Clients and staff participated in a variety of traditional Filipino games; such as luksong tinik, patintero, pabitin and hatawang palayok, volleyball, sack race, tug-of-war, among others.
A grand celebration was held on April 24, 2015, which began with a thanks giving mass in the morning officiated by Fr. Wilmer Rosario. The mass was participated by residents, staff, Government Internship Program (GIP) beneficiaries and Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries from neighboring barangays. In the afternoon, a simple culminating activity in the quadrangle ensued, where Ms. Gloria Regala, Nurse II and Dra. Elma Tolentino, Dentist played as the Masters of the Ceremony.
Dra. Venus Sierra-Arain from National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) gave her inspirational message. She commended the Sanctuary Center staff for their dedication in providing rehabilitation and improving the mental condition of its clientele and their eventual mainstreaming to the society. She also emphasized the importance of giving prescribed medicine for the clients thru the provision of Medical Access Program by NCMH, which paved the way for their fast recovery.
Ms. Wennah Marquez of Office of the Disability Affairs in Mandaluyong is one of the donors who signify their continuous support on the operations of the center specifically on the interests of the residents.
Ms. Mae Serrano, a former client of the Center also expressed her deepest gratitude to all the staff and co-clients in her immediate recovery and reintegration to her family. Prior to her admission to the center, she was working in Malaysia as a domestic helper. Upon her arrival in the Philippines, immigration officers found her in a state of shock, resulting to her entry to the center. In her six months of stay at the Sanctuary Center, she displayed remarkable recovery from her acute mental disorder.
Located in Welfareville Compound in Mandaluyong City, Sanctuary Center is one of the residential care facilities under the management of Department of Social Welfare and Development – National Capital Region (DSWD-NCR) which provides custodial care and rehabilitative programs and services to improved female mental patients, who are mainstreamed to their respective communities upon full recovery.
The various programs and services provided by the center become opportunities for the clients to harness their dormant potentials and regain their self-esteem. These opportunities also teach them to become productive and self-reliant individuals should the time come that they will be mainstreamed to the community. ###