“Sometimes when I didn’t have money, I would just buy cheap drugs, like amoxicillin, and drink lots of these just to get high. Sometimes, I would sniff gasoline,” said Dano.
He left home and eventually got involved in petty crimes. He had been in and out of detention as the Juvenile Justice Law, which prohibits jailing minors, had not been enacted at that time.He lived this way for seven years.
Stephen Dano was referred to the Cebu City Community Scouts Center, an NGO that shelters orphaned and abandoned boys.Little did Dano realize that this was where his rehabilitation would begin.
Now, at 23, Dano is a third year college education student and works as a facilitator for a mobile school program run by the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Integrated Development Center Inc., an NGO that works with street children.