P170.5 million alloted for two DOH-run drug rehab centers in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines —  The two government-run inpatient drug abuse rehabilitation centers in Cebu will receive a total of P170.5 million funds for its operations next year.

Cebu First District Representative Eduardo Gullas said the facilities run by the Department of Health in the Municipality of Argao and the Cebu Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Women in Mandaue City will be getting P84.8 million and P58.7 million, respectively.

Gullas said that apart from their operating budgets, the Argao center will receive additional P17 million for infrastructure spending to increase its bed capacity while the one in Mandaue City will get P10 million for the same purpose.

“They will get the infrastructure funds from the Health Facilities and Enhancement Program, a lumpsum in the 2022 national budget,” said Gullas, the assistant majority leader in the House of Representatives.

The 110-bed Mandaue center, inaugurated only in 2019, is the country’s first and only public facility dedicated exclusively to treating female drug dependents.

The 300-bed Argao center is one of the country’s oldest, established way back in 1984.

“The drug scourge is both a law enforcement and a public health problem. And the problem has two sides – the supply side (the traffickers and pushers) and the demand side (users). We have to attack both sides of the problem simultaneously,” Gullas said in a statement.

The former Cebu governor said that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency is there to run after traffickers and pushers, while the rehabilitation centers are there to treat users.

“There will always be suppliers as long as there is demand. Thus, we really have to increase the bed capacities of our treatment facilities if we want to reduce the demand side of the problem,” Gullas further said.

Anakalusugan Partylist Representative Michael Defensor in a separate statement said that under the law, drug abusers with the help of their families, may voluntarily seek admission to any of the DOH-run centers as long as they pass a dependency test.

“Families also have the option to petition for the compulsory rehabilitation of household members who are known drug abusers,” Defensor said.

Defensor added that drug abusers apprehended with small quantities of illegal substances may also be subjected to compulsory rehabilitation in lieu of a jail term, which may be suspended by a trial judge pending treatment. — GMR (FREEMAN)