SOON to rise in Sarangani province is a China-funded, P350-million regional Dangerous Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center (DDATRC), which broke ground on January 12.
To be constructed in the capital town of Alabel, the 6,707-square-meter facility includes an admission and administration building, clinic, visitors’ pavilion, transition villa, staff house, motor pool, male and female dormitories, as well as a multipurpose covered court. (See related story on Envoys & Expats, January 18, 2018.)
According to Chinese Embassy Economic and Commercial Counselor Jin Yuan, Sarangani is one of the recipients of “China Aid Philippines,” with the DDATRC as an offshoot of the agreement during President Duterte’s state visit to China in October 2016.
He said the 150-bed facility is expected for completion in 21 months.
The project is among the consensus reached during the talks between Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
“Chinese and Filipino relations have seen healthy and stable development, bringing tangible benefits to its peoples,” Yuan confirmed.
Premier Li Keqiang and Duterte led the project’s ceremonial launch on November 15, 2017.
The memorandum of understanding was signed in Manila in March 2017 by representatives of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China and the Department of Health.
Based on a briefer, the DDATRC design adopts a modernist architectural style whose main functions include treatment, training, sports and office operations with adequate facilities.
“The main façade of the central administration building is like a ‘window of hope’ facing the future, which symbolizes the opening of each patient’s heart to help them step into a new and [brighter tomorrow],” the document stated.
Gov. Steve Chiongbian Solon of Sarangani said that the rehab center manifests the government’s campaign of ensuring that drug dependents receive proper treatment and healing to renew their lives.
An interagency task force, composed of the departments of the Interior and Local Government, Health, Social Welfare and Development, Dangerous Drugs Board, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Office of the President, will facilitate the operation of the center.
Solon confirmed the Provincial Anti-Illegal Drug Abuse Program has applied the strategies of the Community-Based Rehabilitation Program (CBRP) as a holistic approach in rehabilitating surrendered drug personalities in Sarangani.
Based on a report, 6,569 have surrendered from March to April 2017, but not everyone required intense treatments as 219 have already graduated from the CBRP.
The Sarangani governor pointed out the abrupt drop of crime rate in the region to 70 percent at the height of the anti-illegal drugs campaign.
China State Construction Engineer Corp. Ltd. will build the rehab center, which is among Fortune Magazine’s “World’s Most Admired Companies” and the largest contractor/real-estate conglomerate in China.
Image credits: Jake Narte