Governor Davide and Globe Telecom External Affairs Officer for Visayas and Mindanao Patrick Agloria led the ceremonial groundbreaking of the drug rehabilitation center at the Jose Ma. Borromeo Memorial Hospital.
cdn photo/morexette marie b. erram
A 160-bed drug rehabilitation facility will rise at the Jose Ma. Borromeo Memorial Hospital in Pinamungajan town, southwest Cebu by the end of 2018.
The project, which was donated to the Cebu Provincial government by Globe Telecom, had its ceremonial groundbreaking yesterday led by Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, Pinamungajan Vice Mayor Honey Yapha, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Rene Catan, and Globe Telecom’s External Affairs Officer for Visayas and Mindanao Patrick Agloria.
This will be the first drug rehabilitation center owned and operated by the public sector in Visayas.
The building will occupy 2,000-square meters of the hospital’s 3,600-square meter-wide compound.
Davide, in his speech, expressed gratefulness for Globe’s initiative, citing that it will help address the lack of rehabilitation centers for drug surrenderers from all over Cebu.
“Walay gasto ang Capitol ani (The Capitol will not be spending for this project). We donated the lot for the construction site to make it (the project) possible,” said Davide.
In a press briefing yesterday, Agloria told reporters that they chose Cebu as their beneficiary because of the large number of drug surrenderers.
“We also chose Pinamungajan because of its location. Drug surrenderers from all over the province will be welcomed there,” said Agloria.
Records from the Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office (CPADAO) revealed that there are more than 50,000 drug surrenderers from the different towns and cities in Cebu.
In her written speech that was read by a staff nurse of Jose Ma. Borromeo Memorial Hospital, CPADAO chief Carmen Remedios Durano-Meca said that some of the drug surrenderers in the province needed to be rehabilitated extensively, and that existing community-based treatment programs are not enough to reform them.
The one-storey building is expected to be finished in November or December. However, Agloria said they are still determining the actual cost of the project.
Agloria also stated that Globe Telecom will be providing the equipment, while the province will hire psychiatrists once the drug rehabilitation center will be operational.
“It will also create jobs for the locals,” he added.
Patients who will be accommodated in this rehabilitation center, Agloria said, can expect to experience “proper healing” in recreational rooms, and activities “conducive for their rehabilitation.”