DILG seeking donors for drug rehab centers

The Department of the Interior and Local Government ( DILG) is urging donors to fund smaller drug rehabilitation centers so the treatment facilities can be established in different parts of the country and not concentrated in just one area.

Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno also noted that smaller facilities, the kind that could accommodate 500 to 1,000 patients, are easier to maintain.

“We are negotiating with these donors if they can divide the resources to establish facilities with (a smaller) capacity so we can (distribute the fund to) several provinces. Several provinces are willing to donate ( for the construction of rehabilitation centers),” Sueno said.

He said mega facilities like the one in Nueva Ecija might be difficult to maintain.

The facility was funded by Chinese real estate billionaire Huang Rulun and can serve up to 10,000 patients. It occupies about 11 hectares of land.

Sueno said a number of businesses and private indi- viduals, including businessman Ramon Ang, MegaWorld and DMCI, have promised to help build treatment facilities.

“Anybody who can help us, local or international, we are accepting them, we are welcoming them,” the secretary added.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said Cebu-based architectural firm Archiglobal Inc. has also committed to build a rehabilitation center in the Visayas.

He said the health department and Archiglobal signed last Wednesday a memorandum of agreement for the establishment of a mega drug abuse treatment facility inside a military camp in Carmen, Bohol.

President Duterte has launched an aggressive campaign against narcotics and has vowed to continue the crackdown until the last drug lord is killed or placed behind bars.

He also said there are four million drug addicts in the country.