President Duterte Leads Launch of Mindanao’s Largest Rehab Center

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte arrived Friday afternoon, August 3, in Malaybalay City for the launching of Mindanao’s largest treatment and rehabilitation facility for Persons Who Use Drugs(PWUD)

Accompanied by Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, and met by Governor Jose Ma. R. Zubiri Jr and Senator Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri, the President unveiled the marker of the modern facility dubbed Northern Mindanao Wellness and Reintegration Center (NMWRC).

Costing 500 hundred million pesos the project is a donation of the Friends of the Philippines Foundation (FPF), headed by Mr. Jose Kho, and Kinming (Xiamen) Real Estate Co., Ltd.

In the turnover ceremony, President Duterte witnessed Health Secretary Francisco Duque III receiving NMWRC’s ‘ceremonial key’ from the donors—the Friends of the Philippines Foundation and the city government of Malaybalay.

The President, in his speech said, “Every day I have lost policemen and soldiers in the fight against crimes and drugs. That is why, we need this facility to help those who have been into drugs back to being productive members of society after treatment, he said.

In an interview, Senator Migz Zubiri explained that the NMWRC would combine the functions of detoxification, rehabilitation, sports and recreation, education and skills training under one roof. Its goal is to turn drug abuse treatment from compulsory to voluntary.

“Standardization, humanization, and modernization shall be the guiding principles of the center,” he said.

Located in a five-hectare land donated by the city government of Malaybalay in barangay Casisang, it is some three kilometers away from the downtown.

The project, which is embedded in the heart of the President, will be home to 500-800 patients whose future would depend mainly on their seriousness to stay good at the place.

The NMRC’s expansive complex houses reception hall; medical service hub; admission/administration building; three dormitories; training center; staff dorm; and sports facilities such as basketball courts, gymnasium, mini-amphitheater and social event area, including vast parking lots.

It has a separate spacious building designated as ‘industrial standard kitchen’ designed for large cookeries to fit patients’ needs.

To ensure that the environment remains a central concern, a sewage plant also complements the implementation of sanitation rules within NMWRC.

Briefly, the NMWRC in Bukidnon helps families of “addicts” who would have to spend much if they bring their patients to private rehabilitation facilities. (RLRB, PIA 10-Bukidnon)