Alliance Global allots P1.2B for drug rehab centers

MANILA, Philippines (Philippines News Agency) — Conglomerate Alliance Global, Inc. (AGI), holding firm of leading businesses in the country, pledged on Tuesday to allot P1.2 billion for the construction of drug rehabilitation centers in the country as support for the government’s war on drugs.

With this, AGI committed to building a new drug rehabilitation facility in Taguig, the second following the Davao facility.

AGI Executive Director Kevin Tan, the son of tycoon Andrew Tan, said the P1.2 billion budget will be disseminated on their planned rehabilitation facilities in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

In line with this, the AGI represented by Kevin Tan has sealed partnerships with the Office of the Cabinet Secretary, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Health (DOH) and the local government of Taguig through a signed memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the new rehabilitation facility which was held in Marriott, Manila Tuesday.

“Alliance Global expresses its full support to the ongoing drug rehabilitation program of the government. This modern facility is part of the company’s social responsibility in helping the government to accommodate the rising numbers of drug surrenderers and help prepare drug dependents to slowly regain their normal lives in a safe and healthy way,” Tan said.

The facility is set to be erected on a 6,852 square meters of land inside Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig. This will accommodate an additional of around 500 drug reformists. It is set to be completed in 2018.

The treatment and rehabilitation center will be run and managed by the DOH and will have a wide range of services and amenities including a physical therapy center, out-patient department building, mini hospital, support building, ward, swimming pool, basketball court and gym.

DOH Secretary Paulyn Ubial said the new facility will be a great advantage to more extreme drug dependents who would be sent to that residential type of rehabilitation.

Meanwhile, Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano expressed her gratitude to AGI for their generous contribution in the city, saying that the treatment facility would also be shared with neighboring cities in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Also, Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. and DILG Secretary Ismael Sueno welcomed the efforts of the Tan family for helping the government curb the drug menace in the country.

Present in the signing were the AGI group, Evasco, Sueno, Ubial, Cayetano, representatives of the National Capital Region Police Office and associates in each government agencies.

As of the end of November 2016, drug surrenderers has reached 900,000 according to DOH records.