DOH: P3 B allotted for rehab of drug addicts

MANILA, Philippines – The government is spending P3 billion in 2017 to rehabilitate hundreds of thousands of Filipinos hooked on illegal drugs.

Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial has told the House appropriations committee that the amount allocated for next year is five times this year’s P600 million.

“The huge increase is intended to accommodate the increasing number of drug users who are surrendering to the police,” she said.

Ubial said part of the P3 billion would be used to improve the 13 Department of Health (DOH) drug rehabilitation centers throughout the country.

“We will also build four new centers – one in Nueva Ecija, another in Southern Luzon and one each in Mindanao and the Visayas,” she said.

She added that a barangay-based drug rehabilitation program would also be funded.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) is asking Congress to increase its intelligence and operating budget so it could strengthen the campaign against illegal drugs.

The PDEA intends to use the additional budget to hire agents, train more drug-sniffing dogs and purchase more firearms.

PDEA Director Isidro Lapeña told the Senate committee on finance chaired by Sen. Loren Legarda yesterday that the lack of resources prevents the agency from pursuing its mandate.

The agency is seeking the approval of its proposed P1.217 billion budget for 2017.

Under its Operation Private Eye, which taps well-placed tipsters, the PDEA is asking additional funding for its reward to informants.

For the third quarter of this year, the agency has yet to pay the amount of P18 million to 14 informants. Since 2012, it has paid out a total of P62 million to 138 informants. The PDEA is also asking P66.3 million for the purchase for 332 pistols and 226 long firearms.

Lapeña said the current China-made Norinco pistols used by PDEA operatives are prone to malfunctions.

He said the agency plans to hire and train an additional 300 agents at a cost of P60 million as well as 300 more drug-sniffing dogs and handlers for P3.7 million next year.

But the largest chunk of the maintenance and other operating expenses of the PDEA’s proposed 2017 budget will be for intelligence gathering at P177 million.

The Philippine National Police has reported that more than 600,000 drug addicts have surrendered since the campaign against illegal drugs started when President Duterte assumed office last June 30.

Ubial admitted that the P91-billion 2017 budget proposed by Duterte for the DOH “is 26 percent lower than the (P123 billion) appropriated in the 2016 GAA (General Appropriations Act).”

This is because the P50-billion allocation for the national health insurance program was removed from the DOH and transferred to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., she said.

She also clarified that there are now six Zika virus cases in the country.

“The five cases were reported from 2012 to this year. They were imported, meaning they were detected abroad and confirmed here. The sixth case was confirmed last weekend,” she said.

Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte warned health authorities against complacency in the global fight against the Zika virus, saying a new international study has identified the Philippines as among the countries most vulnerable to this disease.

He said the DOH shouldn’t drop its guard after it confirmed the sixth case – a 45-year-old woman from Iloilo who had reportedly tested positive for the Zika virus.

“That there is still zero transmission of the Zika virus in the country should not be a ground for complacency,” he said.

Villafuerte, who has asked Congress to pass new legislation on maternal and childcare in all barangays, observed that the Zika virus has become a global health emergency that could possibly spark a fresh wave of fetal brain defects, especially in countries like the Philippines that do not have excellent health care systems.

He lamented that Ubial has declared that there was no need for the public to be alarmed yet despite the World Health Organization (WHO)’s inclusion of the Philippines under Category 2, as there is still no locally transmitted Zika virus infection. – With Paolo Romero