After President Duterte’s statements that camps would be ideal sites for treating drug addicts, the provincial government of Agusan del Sur opened in September last year a drug rehabilitation center inside the camp of the Army’s 401st Brigade in the village of Awa.
It has facilities that can accommodate up to 60 drug users. However, the center would only be a temporary facility until the provincial government had finished a permanent structure to house a rehabilitation center.
In Davao City, Mr. Duterte’s hometown, the construction of a second drug rehabilitation center was announced in October last year. In a media statement, Zuleika Lopez, the city administrator, said that the new facility will rise on a 2.5-hectare land in Barangay Malagos in Baguio district and funded by a casino operator and the government’s casino regulating agency.
Three months into his term, Mr. Duterte signed Executive Order No. 4, creating an interagency task force for the establishment and support of drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation centers in the country.
There were only 16 drug rehabilitation centers accredited by the Department of Health in the country and Mr. Duterte said this was not enough to accommodate the 700,000 drug addicts who had surrendered in his first 100 days in office.
This number has risen, based on figures from the Philippine National Police, with 1,098,479 users and 79,338 pushers who had surrendered as of Jan. 29. —INQUIRER RESEARCH
Source: Inquirer Archives