Government assured of funding for drug rehab centers

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives has assured the Duterte administration of financial support for the construction of rehabilitation centers nationwide in line with the war on drugs.

“Congress will provide financial assistance to the Department of Health’s treatment and rehabilitation centers as well as other rehab centers of the DOH,” Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said. 

“In fact, every budget hearing, we make sure that the rehabilitation centers are well-funded to sustain their operations,” Barbers, who chairs the House committee on dangerous drugs, added.

Barbers made the remark during the recent 13th Meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Inter-Parliamentary Assembly Fact Finding Committee hosted by the Philippines.

“We are always willing to support the DOH program to help in the rehabilitation and treatment of drug users. We do not view drug users as criminals but as persons who are sick and need to be treated,” Barbers said.

Meanwhile, the House appropriations panel chaired by Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles has approved the budget provisions of the measure seeking to grant President Duterte emergency powers to solve traffic congestion.

“We have to equip the President with necessary powers to address the traffic problem, which affects not only Metro Manila but other urban centers in the country,” Nograles said.

He said the traffic problem in Metro Manila and other urban centers has reached the magnitude of a national emergency.

Nograles is confident that the proposed Traffic Crisis Act and other vital legislation will go full swing after the President’s State of the Nation Address on July 24. 

Last January, the House committee on transportation approved the proposed Traffic Crisis Act aimed at granting Duterte emergency powers to solve the traffic woes in the country.