Town Mayor Luciano Rama Jr. is planning to construct a drug rehabilitation center in Barangay Western Poblacion, Poro town, Camotes Islands this year.
Rama said they have already prepared a 1,000-square-meter lot, which is owned by the government, on which to erect the building.
The center is designed to accommodate 500 drug surrenderers from Poro and the neighboring municipalities of San Francisco, Tudela and Pilar.
The P2-million budget for the construction of the center will be taken from the local government unit.
Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) director Senior Supt. Eric Noble earlier said that the four towns of Camotes were the first municipalities to be declared drug-free in the entire province of Cebu.
Rama said that after having been declared drug-free, their next step now is to provide vocational trainings and emergency employment for surrenderers.
The town of Poro received P500,000 from Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for the emergency employment program.
There will be 300 beneficiaries for the program, of which 200 are drug surrenderers.
These vocational trainings include welding, housekeeping and automotive mechanic.
Insp. Jade Sumugat, the chief of Poro Police Station, said they are still waiting for validation from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) that Poro and the rest of Camotes Islands are free from drugs.
Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office (CPADAO) head Ivy Durano Meca said that based on the validation done by PDEA-7, there are still seven barangays on Camotes Islands that are not cleared from illegal drugs. She, however, failed to identify the seven barangays.
Cebu Daily News sent a message to PDEA-7 director Yogi Filemon Ruiz to get his comment on the issue but did not get a reply.