While some western nations have pounded on the current administration over its crackdown on illegal drugs, China is planning to help build more drug rehabilitation centers in the country.
President Rodrigo Duterte said he was "astounded" by China's assistance to his anti-drug campaign without "any publicity" as the first Beijing-funded rehab center at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija will be completed soon.
“The 1,500 (-bed) dormitory is about to be finished and they are promising more,” the President said in a business forum in Davao City last Friday.
Duterte extended his gratitude to China for helping the country, especially amid the administration's present budgetary constraints, on building rehab facilities for drug addicts.
“Four million drug addicts is no joke. We are not a rich country. It is only China who has helped us,” he said.
Duterte added he has asked the military to open their camps “to allow people who would want to donate rehab facilities.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has proposed a budget allocation of P1.45 billion for the aftercare, reintegration and transformation support for recovering drug dependents.
Under the Reintegration, Rehabilitation and Transformation Support for Recovering Drug Dependents (Pillar III) of the National Drug Rehabilitation Program, target participants are 37,916 drug surrenderers from October to December 2016, which is 10 percent of 622,898 of drug surrenderers as of August 11.
These are numbers based on records of the Philippine National Police.
The agency also targets to serve 41,708 drug surrenderers from January to December 2017.
“This effort to implement Pillar III: Aftercare, Reintegration and Transformation Support for Recovering Drug Dependents are in line with the call of President Rodrigo R. Duterte to eliminate drugs in the country and to provide government-wide full support to the recovering drug dependents,” DSWD Secretary Judy Taguiwalo said.
“What we want is to help the drug users and pushers who have surrendered to rehabilitate themselves and return to the fold of society as productive members. Each of them have stories and personal histories that have led them to lives of drug using or peddling, and we hope that through the series of interventions our government agencies want to provide to them, we can help them leave this segment of their lives behind them,” Taguiwalo added.
“Our country’s drug problem has to be addressed through interventions that go to the root causes: Poverty caused by lack of social support for many Filipinos, corruption in various levels in the various agencies of government, and lack of sustainable, productive employment for the poor,” she also said. “The three Pillars of this program for drug pushers/users are meant to pave the way towards lasting solutions to the drug problem.”
Source / Image: Manila Bulletin
Share It To Your Friends!
