The Philippines will use half of a $15-million grant from China to build drug rehabilitation centers across the country, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.
Dominguez said this is part of the agreements signed between Manila and Beijing last year.
He said the Department of Health has requested that at least $7.5 million of the total grant be used to set up drug rehabilitation facilities.
“We have confirmed our intention to avail of the RMB50 million [$7.5 million] grant for the provision of drug rehab facilities for the DoH during our meeting with China Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng,” he said.
“The Chinese side has already began a preliminary feasibility study on the drug rehabilitation center and plans to send an expert team to the Philippines,” Dominguez added.
The remaining half of the grant will be used to procure additional law enforcement equipment for the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to strengthen the government’s war against drugs, Dominguez said.
He said the Philippine delegation has also asked Chinese officials to consider supporting, through grant financing, the construction of health centers in rural areas, particularly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
“During our meeting with Chinese Commerce Ministry officials, we noted the progress in our bilateral dialogue mechanisms and cooperation arrangements. We expect to see more bilateral consultations in the coming months,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez said the generous assistance offered by China to the Philippines is among the concrete results of President Rodrigo Duterte’s foreign policy rebalancing toward accelerated integration with Asian partners.
“The President has recognized the importance of China in the region and he has redirected our economy more towards China and the Asean than to the West. I believe that China will continue to lead the world and continue to lead the Asean in becoming the engine of global growth,” he said.