Capitol not keento operate center

Cebu, Philippines —The Province of Cebu has refused to operate a rehabilitation center for recovering drug addicts.

In an interview, Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia revealed that Capitol is set to enter a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Health (DOH) for the transfer of authority for the operation and maintenance of a P48M-rehabilitation center that the Globe Telecom has donated.

Garcia believes that it would be an “injustice” to channel public funds in the upkeep of the facility, when it is not the responsibility of the provincial government.  She said the money could be channeled into other “beneficial” projects instead.

“When I came in, niingon ko this is not our expertise, not our forte, handling the rehabilitation of drug dependents.  So we requested DOH if they could take over the management and operation of this rehab which they readily agreed to,” Garcia said.

Globe is also set to revoke its Deed of Donation to the province, so it may transfer the facility to DOH.

Since the rehabilitation center stands on a property that the municipality of Pinamungajan owns, Garcia said she has already informed the municipal government.

According to her, they had no problem with the arrangement.  GAN ( FREEMAN)