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[av_heading heading=’De Lima: Probe state funding for drug rehab’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’18’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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Tuesday, March 6, 2018
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MANILA – Detained senator Leila de Lima sought a Senate inquiry into the funding of government drug rehabilitation projects.
De Lima said she wanted to make sure no public fund gets wasted even as the government promised that no state money will be used in building the necessary facilities.
“There is a need to ensure that the government would not be pouring millions of public funds down the drain with nothing to show for it due to a poorly thought-out rehabilitation program that is merely edifice-centric [rather] than people- and community-centric,” she said in Senate Resolution No. 630.
One of the government’s drug rehabilitation projects is the mega treatment and rehab center in Nueva Ecija.
Then Dangerous Drugs Board chairman Dionisio Santiago said in October last year that the construction of this facility was a “mistake” and “impractical.”
Santiago was fired from his post after making that comment in a press interview.
Department of Health assistant secretary Eric Tayag also said the massive rehab center was “impractical” in terms of distance.
“Tandaan niyo po, iyon ay Nueva Ecija, so kung ang surrenderer sa Mindanao, hindi naman praktikal na siya ay dalhin sa Nueva Ecija,” Tayag said in an April 7, 2017 interview.
Also, “kailangan natin na iyong pamilya nila ay bibisita rin sa kanila sa takdang panahon, depende sa programa po ng drug dependent na iyon,” he added.
No government fund was spent in putting up the 10,000-bed rehab center. A Chinese businessman had donated funding for it, Malacañang had said.
Just this January, Communications secretary Martin Andanar said the government and some philanthropists are planning to build two new mega drug rehab centers in Visayas and Mindanao.
Billionaire Xu Ming Liang, also known as Jose Kho, reportedly pledged funding for the construction of the additional facilities.
A “clear policy” on the use of mega drug rehab facilities is needed to prevent waste of funds, said de Lima.
“Although on paper it seems that these facilities are purely funded by donations from foreign donors, in reality, the expenses that have to be incurred to operationalize them do not stop at simply building them, as it would require millions of pesos in taxpayers’ money to staff, supply and maintain such facilities every single day thereafter,” she said./PN
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