Two rehab centers to rise

CEBU, Philippines - Two government-run local rehabilitation centers in Cebu are set to begin construction this year even without funds from the Department of Health.

Globe Telecom has promised to build and donate a P35-million rehabilitation center for the Cebu Provincial Government, while the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas said Cebu City will soon have a rehab center in Barangay Tabunan.

Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III confirmed the agreement with Globe yesterday. He added that it was the Provincial Health Office which computed for the estimated project cost.

After Globe builds the rehab center and turns it over to the province it will be the Capitol’s responsibility to hire and pay for the rehab’s personnel and operations. Davide also reiterated that the facility will be owned by the Cebu provincial government.

He said statistics was one of the key reasons why Cebu was chosen as the beneficiary of the rehab center. As of early 2017, more than 67,000 individuals have surrendered under Project Tokhang in the province.

“We recommended Pinamungajan District Hospital kay dako man og space, kay ang ilang (Globe Telecom) requirement yuta ra g’yud and ang details ana mobalik pa sila for MOA signing,” said the governor.

Globe is currently inspecting the 2,000-square-meter proposed area. The design of the center will depend on the size and features of the lot. Globe said they aim to start construction as soon as the site is ready.

Davide hopes for a 100-bed capacity rehab center.

During closed-door discussion on the planned drug rehab center, Globe officials assured the governor they will not interfere in the operations of the rehab center after the turnover ceremony.

As of 2016 reports, Cebu was not in the 2017 list of the places where the DOH will build a rehabilitation center. DOH allocated P3 billion for the construction of these centers nationwide.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas said the project to construct a 50-hectare rehabilitation center in Barangay Tabunan, Cebu City, is in its design phase.

Assistant Secretary Jonji Gonzales said construction will start within the year but added he cannot confirm the exact date yet.

The planned facility is patterned after a rehab center in Masbate which has a farm and utilizes manual labor as a therapy for drug dependents. Livelihood programs will also be provided in the facility for drug surrenderers.

Cebu Provincial Police Office Chief Eric Noble said he is grateful for the news. He said a local rehabilitation center is crucial to mitigating the proliferation of drugs.

According to the Dangerous Drug Board, only four of the 50 rehabilitation centers nationwide are located in Cebu. Only one of the three is owned by the government; the DOH-Argao Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Sitio Candabong, Barangay Binlod, Argao. The other three centers are privately run.

Huge facilities not needed

Meanwhile, program managers of a faith-based drug recovery program said it does not require a huge amount of money or big facilities to rehabilitate drug dependents.

So as long as initiators deal with the issue on drug addiction with the right approach and intervention that is holistic, involving also the spiritual formation of the person there will be success, said Fe Barino, the executive director of the program dubbed SuGod, a contraction of Surrender to God.

She said the program heads, facilitators and volunteers are enthusiastic in pursuing their programs and its activities as results have been very promising.

“Kon makabalo lang mo unsa kanindot sa programa, dili kabayran og sapi kon makakita ka nga ang usa ka tawo nga rejected sa society, usa ka tawo nga hugaw sa panan-aw sa uban og makita nimo nga mausab,” she said in a press conference yesterday.

The program, which has been recognized by the Cebu archdiocese, just marked its first year. It started its first batch with 65 respondents and this number eventually grew to more than 500 for the succeeding eight batches.

She said the program was launched even without a budget, but along the course of the implementation, private individuals contributed from their own pockets, pouring in almost P3 million for one year to sustain the program.

“Money is not a problem. People nga nakakita sa kamaayo sa programa bisan pa og dili namo hangyuon, mohatag lang sila didto,” she said.

She confirmed the program heads have not received any amount from the government as their program is purely faith-based.

“There was no government intervention tungod kay nakita namo nga kon moapil na ang gobyerno mahadlok sila maapil sa hit list… We maintain our anonymity (and) the privacy of the drug dependents,” she explained.

Barino said program facilitators also discourage police presence since this might affect their will and desire to change their old ways.

She, however, said some local officials support the program in their personal capacity while some local government units offer their resources like vehicles for transporting the participants to Barangay Yati, Liloan, Cebu, where they undergo the program’s six-day initial phase.

Malyn Cristobal, the program’s training director, said she observed the difference in their program and the government’s approach to rehabilitating drug dependents.

“The government program is good. They have screening and assessment but then kulang sa actual (implementation) on the ground… but the application of the SuGod program is really actual on the ground. They do the dirty work,” she said.

Based on data, the participants of the program numbered 577, with 446 or 77 percent finishing all the phases.

“If i-compare nimo ang sa ilang na-achieve, that is huge for a program na dili everyday naa’y gatan-aw. Dili siya lock-up but the respondents are voluntarily going to the meetings,” she said.

“I was so happy (to be invited) because I could see that in a given number of months, like in one year, the number of people they have helped and continuously to be in recovery is a big number compared to people going into treatment, going to residential care, going to outpatient centers,” she added. —/BRP (FREEMAN)