Chinese businessmen have pledged to provide funds for the construction of a “mega” drug rehabilitation facility inside a military camp in Carmen, Bohol as support to the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.

According to Cabinet Sec. Leoncio Evasco, the funds from the Chinese entrepreneurs who have been doing business in the Philippines will be coursed through the Kausaban Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting the government’s anti-drug campaign.

Evasco, during the groundbreaking of the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital’s expansion building, said that the drug treatment and rehabilitation center in Carmen will be the foundation’s first project in the country.

The cabinet secretary attributed the selection of Bohol as the facility’s site to the efforts of Boholano Fernando “Ding” Borja, Pres. Rodrigo Duterte’s special envoy to China.

“I think we really have to extend our deep appreciation and gratitude to Mr. Borja who really facilitated the support of the Chinese businessmen,” Evasco said. “They were the ones who said that the first project of the foundation will be in Bohol.”

In the same event, Health Sec. Paulyn Jean Rossel-Ubial, Interior Undersecretary John Castriones, Evasco and Kausaban Foundation’s Alan Crisologo signed a memorandum of agreement for the implementation of the project.

For his part, Gov. Edgar Chatto said that the project will address the much needed follow-up to the ASSIST-BI (Alcohol Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test-Brief Intervention) initiative which assesses the severity of drug dependence among users.

“This is a project that is very much needed in the province and I think this will not only serve Bohol, but the entire region as well”, said Chatto. “Bohol is very thankful that we have been chosen as the site.”

Chatto also noted that the provincial government has deferred the planned construction of a drug rehabilitation center in Carlos P. Gracia town to allow local officials to focus support and resources on the new project.

Since Duterte launched his anti-drug drive in July, over 31,000 drug users and pushers in Bohol have surrendered and admitted involvement in illegal drug activities.

The facility in Carmen will be the second of its kind in the entire country next to the “mega” drug rehabilitation and treatment center in Nueva Ecija, which is a 10,000-bed facility. (RT)