4 military camps eyed as drug rehab centers

The Department of National Defense (DND) is considering four military camps to serve as drug rehabilitation centers.

“Actually i-offer ko lahat yan sa Malacañang pero may mga kampo na malilit lang. Ang gusto nila yung malaki-laki lang na area para malawak ang gagalawan ng nagre-rehab. Gusto nila yung may vegetable garden para may trabaho sila so ang ino-offer namin yung mga malalaki yung Fort Magsaysay, Jamindan at yung Kibaritan sa Bukidnon. Malalaki yan libo-libong ektarya so yan ang in-offer namin,” DND Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in an interview over DZRH on Thursday.

(Actually, I will offer all of these to Malacañang but there are camps which are small. They want quite a big area so those under rehab can move in a large space. They want a vegetable garden so they would have a job so we are offering big spaces like Fort Magsaysay, Jamindan and Kibaritan in Bukidnon.)

READ: AFP welcomes Duterte’s plan to use camps as drug rehab centers

Fort Magsaysay, the biggest military camp in the country, is located in Nueva Ecija. It houses the Army’s 7th Infantry Division and the Special Operations Command and two of its units—the Special Forces Regiment Airborne and the Light Reaction Regiment.

The Army’s 3rd Infantry Division is located at Camp Macario Peralta in Jamindan, Capiz while Camp Kiribatan, an Army training facility, is located in Bukidnon.

Lorenzana said Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal is also an option.

“Malaki-laki din yan, tingnan natin. Yung mga hinihingi nilang minimum area is five hectares (Camp Capinpin is quite big, let’s see. They are asking for a minimum area of five hectares),” he said.

“We are ready to offer him kung ano hihingin nila (their request),” he added.

President Rodrigo Duterte, in his first State of the Nation Address last month, said that military camps would be used as drug rehabilitation centers for drug users.

READ: Plans to convert camps into rehab centers mulled

Lorenzana said they will also have troops on standby to help the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

“We will have troops on standby to help PDEA Director Isidro Lapena in case they encounter heavily-armed drug perpetrators and require support or reinforcement,” he said. RAM

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