Less budget for anti-drug drive, more for basic health services

KIDAPAWAN CITY – Instead of allotting huge budget for anti-drug campaign, the city government here would be spending next year some P60 million, out of its P228.2 million budget, for speedy delivery of basic health services.City Mayor Joseph Evangelista said the funds would ensure quality health programs to at least 40 barangays in the city, many of which are located in the remotest areas. When people are not given health services due them, then, problems on peace and order come in, said the mayor.The city’s support to health services got the biggest pie for next year’s budget for its Peace and Order Plan (POP).Every year starting 2017, the funds would have a 10 percent increase.The P228.2 million peace and order budget for 2017 is sourced out from the local funds, the mayor explained.The health programs of the city also include treatment and counseling for ‘recovering’ addicts or drug users who are likely to recover from their addiction to shabu, marijuana, and other kinds of illegal drugs.Evangelista said the city government expects the Department of Health (DoH) in Soccsksargen (Region 12) would approve its plan to convert the Kidapawan City Hospital to a treatment hospital for recovering addicts.The city hospital, located at the Poblacion, has been put up less than a decade ago.The city government, Evangelista said, needs at least P40 million to put up a drug rehabilitation center.The proposal, he stressed, has already been submitted to the DOH-12, the government’s lead agency for drug rehabilitation.Also, part of the treatment and counseling of ‘recovering’ addicts is their continuing ‘detoxification.’The city government plans to give out Philhealth package for addicts’ ‘cleansing’ and ‘detoxification’. Aside from health programs, the city has allotted P22.3 million for its anti-drug and peace and order campaign programs for 2017.Of the 40 barangays, at least 14 villages are considered ‘slightly’ and ‘moderately’ affected by drug use and trafficking, which means at least two percent of their total populations are among those drug personalities listed by the local police.These included the thickly populated barangays of Amas, Binoligan, Balindog, Lanao, and Poblacion.