Globe, Virtualahan help recovering drug dependents to start anew

IN June 2019, Shaun Rodriguez was caught in a drug buy-bust operation in Cebu. Shaun has been a progressive prohibited drug user for over five years, but it was the first time he landed behind bars.

The experience was a wake-up call that jolted Shaun into leaving his past and starting anew. With the help of Project New Life, a joint digital training initiative of Globe Telecom and Davao-based social enterprise Virtualahan, he found a career in creating digital arts and eventually became a coach for graphic design at Virtualahan, starting November 2019, where he shares his knowledge and stories with other recovering drug dependents like Klein and Zendie.

“I will be forever grateful to Globe and Virtualahan for truly helping me start a new life. I admit to have made wrong decisions in the past but joining the Virtualahan training has become one of the best decisions I made. Daghang salamat!,” said Klein who currently works as a customer service agent in Cebu.

Project New Life is a pioneering project in the Philippines that provides aftercare and reintegration support to recovering or former drug dependents in Cebu City by equipping them with skills and mindset to become competitive employees and entrepreneurs using the equalizing power of technology.

Globe and Virtualahan started working on the project together last year to help drug dependents who were brought to the New Life Center, the first-of-its-kind drug rehabilitation and treatment center in Pinamungajan, Cebu which Globe constructed and turned over to the Cebu provincial government in June 2019.

“Recovering our youth from drug dependency and providing new skills for gainful employment is at the heart of Project New Life. We are grateful for partners like Virtualahan who do business by aiming for social impact to make a difference in the lives of the marginalized. We hope the people who benefitted from the training program will have a better future,” said Yoly Crisanto, Globe chief sustainability officer and senior vice president for Corporate Communications.

For more information, visit https://www.globe.com.ph/about-us/sustainability.html. For Virtualahan, visit https://www.virtualahan.com/.