Manila: A year after it was constructed, the government now appears to be in a quandary over what to do with the mega drug rehab centre in Central Luzon.

The mega drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation centre in Fort Magsaysay in Palayan City, Nueva Ecija was constructed with funds from Chinese billionaire Huang Rulun last year, but now, the 10,000-bed rehab facility is not even operating at a fraction of its capacity as most of its dormitories remain unoccupied.

Last October 31, then Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) chairman Dionisio Santiago said the construction of the rehab facility had been a “mistake.” He added that housing drug abusers in a facility far from the families of the addicts was not practical as their kin would have to spend much for visiting the patients.

“These patients need family support in their rehabilitation and placing them in an area where they are far from them will not be of much help to their recovery,” he said.

He added that money spent for the construction of the facility would have been better off allotted for putting up smaller housing facilities in the same communities where the addicts are located.

But days after a former armed forces chief of staff Santiago made the statement, he was forced by President Rodrigo Duterte to resign. Apparently, the DDB Chairman was not toeing the Philippine leader’s line on the overall war against drugs.

The government is now confronted with what to do with the facility. Senator Vicente Sotto III said the several hectares-sized facility inside a military camp, could be turned into as a school for drug enforcement agents.

“The PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) can oversee it, as it can be made as an extension of the present PDEA academy,” he said.

But the palace appeared to be not keen on the idea from Sotto.

“We welcome the suggestion of Senator Vicente Sotto III on the mega drug rehabilitation and treatment centre ...” Palace Spokesman Harry Roque said.

“If you would recall, the facility was built for the recovery and treatment of drug addicts in the country. However, from the beginning, we, particularly our health officials, do not envision this to be a permanent structure,” he added.

Roque said that the mega drug rehab facility will remain as it is even if it is not being fully utilised.

“Our long-term vision is once the drug problem has been resolved, this can be turned over to the military who owns the land or other agencies of government that can utilise, manage and optimise the facility,” Roque said.

China, through Huang, opened the facility last year.

Duterte had blamed China before as a major source of drugs used in the Philippines.

Aside from China, finance secretary Carlos Dominguez earlier announced that Japan is providing a $16 million (Dh58.77 billion) grant to the Philippines for the construction of drug rehabilitation centres.

Observers said that the issue on the mega drug rehab facility exemplified how the government used the drugs bogeyman for its own purposes.

Earlier, DDB officials disputed government assertions that the country has at least four million drug addicts.