BACOLOD City Mayor Evelio Leonardia said on Monday, April 2, they are still facilitating the requirements for the construction of the Treatment Rehabilitation Center (TRC) facility in the city.
Leonardia said they have talked with some personalities in Manila to help them to push the TRC project.
He said he already forwarded the new template to Rodel Parcon, focal person for the community based-drug rehabilitation program (CBDRP), to comply the requirements for the construction of the facility.
Elizabeth Caumban, City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Cadac) secretariat, had earlier said they submitted the proposal and building plan of the TRC to accommodate the severe drug surrenderers in Bacolod.
She said the City Government has a three-hectare lot along Purok Pedrosa in Barangay Alijis which was currently occupied by the City Agriculture Office.
Caumban noted the Department of Health (DOH) had allotted P50 million for a drug rehabilitation facility in Bacolod.
Leonardia said the proposed construction of drug rehabilitation center came after the city hosted the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD), with the approval from President Rodrigo Duterte.
He said Undersecretary Earl Saavedra informed him that the venue of ICAD has always the clearance from President Duterte.
"It means that in the eyes of the president he must look at us with the positivity in so far as the campaign is concerned," the mayor added.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency had earlier promised to give P5 million for the drug rehabilitation program of Bacolod.
"Wherever the funds may come, we will welcome that for the drug rehabilitation of Bacolod," Leonardia said.