Around P60 million is needed to get the youth rehabilitation center in Bilar get started as the long overdue component of the implementation of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 and The Child and Youth Welfare Code.
The Social, Economic and Environment Management (SEEM) cluster, headed by Liza Quirog, is now taking charge of the processes related to the establishment of the youth rehabilitation center in a three-hectare property of the provincial government in Bilar.
In an update, Provincial Board Member Godofreda Tirol said the technical team of the provincial government already finished the engineering design of the rehabilitation to be called ” Bohol Youth Home” and what is now being worked out is the sourcing of funds for the project.
The provincial government eyed to get financial support from the national government for the implementation of the project.
Prior to the October 15, 2013 earthquake when prices of construction materials were lower, the estimated cost was pegged at P55 million. However, it has been adjusted to around P60 million or more in the light of the increase of prices of construction materials.
Tirol said the site in Bilar is very conducive for the diversion program required in Republic Act 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 and Presidential Decree 603 or The Child and Youth Welfare Code.
In consonance with the laws, female children admitted to the institution will have separate quarters from the male children in the institution.
There will be facilities for the psycho-social reform approach such as a chapel, recreation area, mess hall, counseling room, comfort rooms, play rooms, quarters and function halls for the sessions.
Tirol had an opportunity to interact nine children from Bohol during her recent visit to the youth reform facility in Argao in Cebu province.
The Boholano children were sentimental in narrating their reform and realized that they could have been spared from the illegal activities had their parents given them enough care and attention and with their rehabilitation they are now able to appreciate the beauty of following the right  path to become better persons.
The children were thankful that because of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006, they were not mixed with adult offenders in regular penal institutions, and instead, they were given a chance to reform in Argao youth rehabilitation facility.
At Argao rehabilitation facility, the psycho-social services helped them learn the value of doing the right things through the activities and counseling sessions.
Had they been mixed with hardened adult criminals for the felonies they committed, they could surely become hardened criminals, too, as what the children told Tirol.
On this, Tirol concluded that in most cases, parental neglect is to blame.
The youth offenders from the rehabilitation center in Argao had even landed in clean employment after their release.
After going through years of psycho-social activities in the rehabilitation center, the youth offenders are assessed if they are already fit for reintegration to the community.
Most of those released from Argao rehab center had been exposed to on-the-job training  and most of them were absorbed as regular employees by the companies they served for their satisfactory performance.
The provincial government intends to achieve a similar accomplishment through the eyed Bohol Youth Home in Bilar.