by Hazel Laplana
After accomplishing a nine-month-long rehabilitation, Roberto Plando Jr, commonly known as ‘Kuya Berta,’ is now an admin staff in his restoration center, SafeHaven Addiction Treatment and Recovery Village, and becoming an ambassador of hope.
"My life is indeed beautiful now. There’s a new life and new hope – we just need to be on the right track of our life and believe in faith and always pray"
“Life is wonderful, life is precious, and life is powerful,” Roberto Berta Plando Jr said — it is only one of his numerous witty and quotable quotes, which left a mark, admired, and inspired myriads of netizens everywhere.
Berta once became the face of Cebu City’s street dwellers, and during those adversities, it was only God who gave him the strength and served as his backbone.
“I always pray to God to give me [a] good wisdom and knowledge and understanding so that I can survive,” he said.
However, despite being destitute, Berta still managed to share some of his alms with other street dwellers, especially during the Christmas season, because to him, "Money is not important. The important is you have a good, wonderful record in heaven."
Berta’s life before was full of hardships. His mother passed away when he was nine years old because of tuberculosis. Due to that, he became a street child, where he used to sell snacks on the street to help provide for his family's daily needs.
Later on, luckily, his relatives started to support his study, where he managed to finish a degree in Education.
Berta used to teach for a while, became a catechist spreading the word of God, and a volleyball player. However, he suddenly fell in love with his partner and quickly left home.
According to him, his partner influenced him to do drugs before. Soon after, lover left him. Broken-hearted, his addiction worsened, which led him to street-dwelling again.
“Napakahirap ng buhay ko noon. I’m crying always, and hindi ko alam saan ako mag umpisa at that time. (My life was really hard before. I’m always crying, and I don’t know where I should start at that time.)” Berta said.
He wandered around the street amid the pandemic asking for alms, but luckily, one day, a good samaritan named Anton Camilo noticed the medical needs of Berta. Anton approached and joined forces with SafeHaven Addiction Treatment And Recovery Village, one of the well-known rehabilitation facilities in Cebu City, to rescue and help Berta recover from his addiction and mental issues.
SafeHaven found hope in Berta since he showed his utmost best and cooperation to change for his own welfare and betterment during the recovery. Likewise, it is the same case with most of their patients
Berta gets a new lease in life after recovering from his previous addiction with the help of medical professionals and living a Christ-centered life.
“Talagang napakaganda ng buhay ko ngayon. May bagong buhay at bagong pag-asa,
kailangan lang nasa tama tayong proseso ng buhay and believing in faith and always pray.(My life is indeed beautiful now. There’s a new life and new hope – we just need to be on the right track of our life and believe in faith and always pray.)” he said.
The helping community behind Berta’s successful recovery
Berta is one of the numerous people who suffer from addiction and mental illnesses that SafeHaven Addiction Treatment and Recovery Village endeavors to help despite the difficulties brought by the pandemic.
“[The] pandemic has really been hard to all of us, but it’s really different when God works through our hearts and passion,” said Emmanuel Llenos, Facility Director of SafeHaven.
“For many years in our life, we know how it feels to be suffering from addiction – one will only use for become addicted, and the whole family suffers. So we work hard and always ask God for help because we cannot do it alone. As long as God will allow, nobody can stop our hearts and passion to help,” he added.
"[The] pandemic has really been hard to all of us, but it’s really different when God works through our hearts and passion"
The rehabilitation facility succors individuals to reform their lives since they believe in the sanctity of life, wherein every human being gets another chance to get back on the right path.
Besides the help of SafeHaven’s professional health care providers, they also guide their patients to live a Christ-centered life.
SafeHaven believes this makes the recovery village more successful in aiding people to recuperate from their addiction and mental illnesses.
Llenos said, “SafeHaven is truly a success because of our hearts or Christ-centered ways in helping people… [because] having a relationship with God means they must be loving, understanding, caring, compassionate, and non-judgmental.”
He added that the rehabilitation facility’s staff and patients don’t practice the same faith religions, but it doesn’t matter as long as they believe in God.
“Day-to-day, we’re implementing the Christ-way of life [since] without spirituality, there’s no healing. It’s the core of SafeHaven. Iba rin kasi talaga pag si Lord yung magwo-work sa atin,” Llenos added.
(Day-to-day, we’re implementing the Christ-way of life [since] without spirituality, there’s no healing. It’s the core of SafeHaven. It’s really different if it’s God who works through us.)
Llenos said many people judged and condemned individuals suffering from addiction for many years.
For that reason, they ensure that every patient will not be discriminated and disparaged at SafeHaven.
“Here in SafeHaven, we are family – that’s why we call it ‘We are SafeHaven’ because regardless what your past is, you belong to us, and we are family. We helped them realize that they still have hope, they have family here, and they still have value,” Llenos said.
Hence, Berta is filled with gratitude because SafeHaven did not only help him heal but also gave him home with a new family that cares for him.
“They carry me to a good way of life. They taught me how to live a dignified life, to be a good and happy person,” Berta said.
Before, he was one of the many faces of Cebu City’s street dwellers. However, because he gave his utmost best and cooperation to carry on with his recovery, with the help and love of the caring people of SafeHaven, Berta is not anymore the symbol of hopelessness but rather the symbol and face of hope to many people.
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