Duterte admin spending big on drug users’ rehab

Outside the blunt rhetorics of Presi­dent Duterte about targeting both drug addicts and traffickers in his determined campaign against narcotics, the National Eco­nomic and Development Authority (Neda) had told a United Nations (UN) com­mittee that his administration is actually investing heavily on the rehabilitation of ille­gal-drug dependents.

Rehabilitation is part of the ongoing and planned pro­grams of the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs, Neda Deputy Director-Gen­eral Rosemarie Edillon said.

“We must first recognize that there is popular support for the President’s campaign against illegal drugs, as reflect­ed in his decisive win at the polls in May 2016,” Edillon said during a recent dialogue with the United Nations (UN) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.

“I would say our govern­ment’s campaign on illegal drugs should be considered beyond the headlines. A lot of Filipinos, groups, and institu­tions like local and national governments see this as an opportunity to restore fami­lies that form the very fabric of our society,” said Edillon, who headed the Philippine delega­tion to the UN meeting.

“The initial campaign against illegal drugs has re­vealed the magnitude of the problem, one that has not been addressed, at least not with the scope and scale as to make it effective. But we are rectifying this now,” she add­ed.

The Philippine National Police’s (PNP) Oplan Tokhang has yielded close to a million drug surrenderers, Edillon noted.

She told the UN body that the Duterte administra­tion also considers drug de­pendency as a health issue.

Thus, Edillon said, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is convening different govern­ment agencies, non-govern­mental organizations (NGOs), and faith-based groups to address the problem of drug dependency by focusing on the identification and the clas­sification of drug dependents to be led by the Department of Health, community-based rehabilitation to be led by the Ugnayan ng Barangay at Sim­bahan, an NGO, and aftercare reintegration and transforma­tion support for recovering drug dependents to be led by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

These all fall within the DILG’s Drug Rehabilitation Construction and Communi­ty-based Drug Rehabilitation Project, she said.

Of the more than 700,000 drug users who surrendered, it was noted that only less than one percent would need in-patient treatment and re­habilitation, and would be admitted to treatment and re­habilitation centers, 2 percent to 10 percent would go to out­patient facilities, while 90 per­cent would require communi­ty-based interventions.

“We must deal with the drug problem through reha­bilitation, reformation, and re­integration,” Edillon said.

She added that the na­tional government has start­ed to construct large-capacity rehabilitation centers around the country.

Local government units have also begun restoring ex­isting but neglected drug re­habilitation facilities, Edillon also said.

The Department of Edu­cation (DepEd) has increased resources for the implementa­tion of an alternative learning system that would shepherd drug addicts back to the ed­ucational system, and provide them with more options for human development.

Edillon said the DepEd was also developing modules in schools’ curricula to incor­porate awareness of the drug problem in the country.

The Philippine Sports Commission is introducing large-scale sports-develop­ment programs for drug users and pushers who surrendered.

Religious groups and oth­er faith-based organizations have also volunteered to help in the reformation process.

“Our church, for instance, has mobilized 5,000 volun­teers who are now undergo­ing training to be counselors,” added Edillon.

“All these programs will be incorporated in the Philip­pine Development Plan 2017-2022, under the component, Enhancing the Social Fabric,” said Edillon.