Robredo sees grassroots rehab programs as key to fighting addiction

Vice President Leni Robredo continued to carry her advocacy of rehabilitation as a tack in reducing, if not ending, drug addiction, saying it was important that addicts reform where they live.

As part of a whirlwind of activities since she assumed her new role in the government’s anti-narcotics body, Robredo sat down with Interior Secretary Eduardo Año and other officials of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to discuss strategies in the anti-drug campaign.

In a statement, her office said Robredo stressed on the need to build capacities of and fund local government units, especially Anti-Drug Abuse Councils, to perform their roles in bringing rehabilitation to the grassroots level.

Robredo also gave emphasis to the important roles of the DILG and PNP in “both drug supply and demand reduction.”

Robredo’s visit to the DILG was the latest in a series of meetings with local and foreign stakeholders involved in the illegal drug campaign since she was appointed co-chair of the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Año said Robredo could help “refine” drug campaign plans, though it was best to leave actual operations to law enforcement agencies.

“She can sit down with us so she’ll be able to see the provisions as well as the policy formulation. [But as to] actual operations, we leave it to the law enforcers,” he said in Filipino.

Robredo may also sit down with them during their quarterly review of the operations, the official said.

“There, she can give her observations because she has links with the public. The good thing here is that many people are giving [her] information and comments and suggestions,” Año said.

“There’s a good feedback mechanism with CSOs (civil society organizations) and the public, so we will be able to determine how effective our efforts are,” he added./Edited by TSB