BACOLOD CITY — Secretary Catalino Cuy, chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), will lead the groundbreaking for the PHP35-million Bacolod City Drug Rehabilitation Center in Barangay Alijis on Friday.
Cuy and Mayor Evelio Leonardia will lead the ceremony set in the afternoon.
The DDB has granted the city government a PHP10-million fund for the construction of the facility, which will cater to drug surrenderers with severe substance use disorder.
During the program, Cuy will turn over the check to the mayor.
The remaining funding requirement of PHP25 million will be shouldered by the city government.
The rehabilitation center, which will have an administration building, male and female quarters, multi-purpose and mess building, and pavilion, will rise on the city-government owned land adjacent to the City Agriculture Office Demo Farm.
The City Anti-Drug Abuse Council, chaired by the mayor, proposed the project.
Also expected to attend are Undersecretary Earl Saavedra, executive director of DDB, and Melanie Castillo, head of Administrative and Finance Management Division of DDB.
In June last year, Bacolod hosted the 2017 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking spearheaded by the DDB.
Saavedra then said that Bacolod was chosen as the host, the first outside Luzon, because the city “has good practices in terms of drug abuse prevention and control.”
In March this year, Bacolod launched the “Rehabinasyon,” a holistic approach in eliminating the country’s drug problem that puts premium on the rehabilitation of drug surrenderers.
“Rehabinasyon” is being implemented by the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs with the Presidential Communications Operations Office.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has also selected Bacolod as the Visayas pilot site of the Balay Silangan Reformation Program that offers temporary refuge, with the objective of reforming drug offenders into self-sufficient and law-abiding members of society.
The city government is considering three possible sites for the Balay Silangan.
PDEA Director-General Aaron Aquino has said Bacolod has been considered for the program’s pilot implementation since the city actively supports the government’s anti-drug campaign. (Nanette Guadalquiver/PNA)
