Rehab must be part of antidrug war – Leni

Vice President Leni Robredo PHOTO from Leni Robredo Media Bureau

WHAT’S missing from President Duterte’s war on drugs is the element of rehabilitation, Vice President Leni Robredo said on Tuesday, as she expressed a desire to contribute to the campaign by creating a comprehensive program for reintegrating drug abusers into society.

“For me, we need a more holistic solution to drugs rather than be reactive all the time,” Robredo said Tuesday in an interview in Bocaue, Bulacan, where she visited a housing project.

Robredo has spoken out against the spate of extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers and users since Mr. Duterte took office on June 30, but maintains she is “very supportive” of the government’s antidrug campaign.

“In fact, we were talking about it in the office. What role can we perform to show our support for the President? What we saw that’s missing is rehabilitation; that’s where the gap is,” Robredo, a human rights lawyer before entering politics, said.

Watch list

She said many people had turned themselves in after finding their names on drug watch lists but there seemed to be no program to rehabilitate them.

“If you will remember the story of the 22-year-old who… killed a nurse at St. Luke’s and he did it just after surrendering? So here whether there’s killing or a surrender, what’s the program after?” she said.

Robredo is also chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council with a Cabinet rank, a post President Duterte appointed her to one week after assuming office.

“It seems the execution comes before the program. I think our office will help meet this need,” she said.

The Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, besides laying out punitive measures against drug traffickers, states that the government should “provide effective mechanisms or measures to reintegrate into society individuals who have fallen victim to drug abuse or dependence through sustainable programs of treatment and rehabilitation.”

“It seems that what’s happening now, as a result of the influx of information and the number of surrenderees, [is the government] does not know what to do,” Robredo said.