MANILA, Philippines - President Duterte has asked the military to allot at least a hectare of its camps as rehabilitation facilities for drug dependents.
“I will have to use your camps. It’s only the military that has a vast reservation of land,” Duterte said during a dinner with the Presidential Security Group at Malacañang on Sunday night.
“I’m just asking for a hectare...I will surround it with barbed wire. I will build the rehabilitation facilities,” he said.
Duterte said drug users would only commit crimes if they were allowed to roam the streets.
“We have to finish this problem because it is threatening our country. With three million addicts, my God, and those who surrendered today were just about 180. That is how serious our problem is,” he said.
Duterte had vowed a “bloody” and “ruthless” campaign against illegal drugs, adding that he would not stop until the last drug lord or pusher is arrested or killed. He also bared plans to tap the military in the campaign against drugs and criminality.
More than 200 suspects have been killed in various anti-drug operations while more than 120,000 others have surrendered since July 1.