Manila: Japan is providing a $16 million (Dh58 million) grant to the Philippines for the construction of drug rehabilitation centres, officials said on Sunday.

According to Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Manila is working fast to ensure the speedy construction of rehabilitation centres for the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drugs as well as other Japan-funded projects in support of the promotion of agribusiness investments in Mindanao.

“We are grateful that Japan is also supporting our campaign against illegal drugs by providing a JICA [Japan International Cooperation Agency] grant to the Department of Health for the treatment and rehabilitation of illegal drug users,” Dominguez said in the meeting with JICA officials in Tokyo.

JICA officials — led by the agency’s president, Shinichi Kitaoka, and senior vice-president, Shinya Ejima — welcomed Dominguez to Japan recently.

“We hope to immediately implement the 1.850 billion yen [$16 million] grant to construct drug rehabilitation centres,” Dominguez added.

The Philippines had unleashed a campaign against drugs immediately after President Duterte formally assumed authority in July 2016. “Drugs is a very virulent agent in any society. The campaign against drug will continue till the last day of my term. I will not stop until the last drug pusher is out of the street and the last drug lord or king killed,” he had said at the time.

But while the government had been active in rooting out the menace of drug in society, it was confronted by the problem of where to house the thousands of addicts targeted in the administration’s campaign.

China, which Duterte had blamed earlier as a major source of drugs used in the Philippines, opened a drug rehab centre last November inside the Army base, Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija province.

The complex, called the Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre (DTRC), is the biggest in the Philippines and is aimed at ultimately housing 10,000 patients once it is fully operational. The facility was constructed with the help of donors such as Chinese billionaire Huang Rulun.

The Philippines has adopted a several pronged approach to counter the drug menace that hinges on cutting supply and counting an active campaign at the grass roots that target drug users.

According to Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Isidro S. Lapena, aside from rehabilitation, the village level administration is critical in eradicating the drug menace.

“As indicated in Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, and the Local Government Code, all barangay (village) officials have a role to play in the national anti-drug campaign. It is either you are with us or you are against us! If your barangay is drug affected and you did not take action to address the problem or clear your barangay, you can be tagged as protectors,” Lapena said during the 2017 National Assembly of the League of Barangays in Pasay City last April 4 to 6.

As of March 29, the National Capital Region has the highest drug affectation of 97.30 per cent with the cities of Caloocan, Navotas, Valenzuela, Muntinlupa and Taguig obtaining a 100 per cent, while Las Pinas has the least affectation of 55 per cent.

Since July 1 last year, 39 village chairpersons and 53 village aldermen have been arrested in the anti-drugs campaign.