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Friday, March 29, 2024

Govt allots P563M to expand drug rehab facilities

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A HOUSE leader on Saturday said the national government has earmarked another P563 million to upgrade public drug treatment and rehabilitation centers in 2018.

Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel, a member of the House appropriations committee, said that “the fresh funding will be spent to expand the capacity of 14 residential drug TRCs across the country to enable them to accommodate additional admissions.”

“The new money is specifically for the ‘health facilities enhancement’ of 14 TRCs, and not for their maintenance and operations, which have a separate budget,” he said.

Pimentel, also the chairman of the House committee on good government, said the P563 million for next year is on top of the P570 million available this year to improve the facilities of 16 government-run TRCs.

He added that the P563 million for next year has been set aside to develop the facilities of public TRCs in: Bicutan, Taguig City (P172.14 million); San Fernando City, La Union (P25.96 million); Dagupan City (P25.00 million); Ilagan, Isabela (P34.70 million); Fort Magsaysay, Palayan City, Nueva Ecija (P20.00 million); San Fernando, Camarines Sur (P50.60 million); Malinao, Albay (P29.77 million); Pototan, Iloilo (P57.06 million); Argao, Cebu (P24.20 million); Cebu City south district (P25.00 million); Cebu (P13.00 million); Dulag, Leyte (P11.73 million); Cagayan de Oro City (P17.91 million); and Surigao City (P55.50 million).

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Pimentel, meanwhile, said the Dangerous Drugs Board should put to good use the 10,000-bed Mega TRC in Fort Magsaysay built through a P1.4-billion donation of Chinese real estate tycoon Huang Rulan.

“Our proposal is for the DDB on a case-to-case basis to file the appropriate petitions in court so that drug dependents who escape from the centers where they were originally supposed to undergo treatment, may be subsequently committed to Fort Mag once they surrender, or once they are surrendered by their families, within the one-week deadline prescribed by law,” Pimentel said.

“There are many drug dependents who voluntarily submit to confinement and rehabilitation, but who later flee from centers. The problem is real. In fact, the Dangerous Drugs Law itself has a provision especially dealing with escapees from centers,” Pimentel said.

Pimentel said Fort Mag could also be of service to drug dependents voluntarily seeking rehabilitation for the second time.

The DDB prefers to put drug dependents in community-based TRCs near their families so they can provide complete emotional support through visits.

“Community-based TRCs are good. However, there are also many cases wherein the need to keep a drug dependent undergoing therapy as far away as possible from his usual sources of illegal drugs may outweigh the need to provide him direct emotional support,” Pimentel said.

The Fort Mag Mega TRC has become controversial after DDB chairperson Dionisio Santiago called the facility “impractical” and a “mistake” due to the high cost of maintaining it.

A presidential appointee, Santiago has since been forced to resign his post due to his failure to bring his apprehensions about the Fort Mag facility to President Duterte’s attention, and for publicly criticizing an administration project.

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