MANILA, Philippines – About a month since President Duterte inaugurated the mega drug rehabilitation facility at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, the Department of Health (DOH) expects to have 37 patients checked in by yearend.

Health Undersecretary Gerardo Bayugo said they only had 10 patients recently and the number is expected to reach 37 by Dec. 31, saying the delay is due to the wish of patients to spend holidays with their families.

Water rationing in some areas of the facility that can house up to 10,000 patients also contributed to the delay in admitting those who want to be rehabilitated, he added.

The DOH, Bayugo said, has already received 200 reservations. At least 300 health personnel have been assigned on a shifting basis at 100 workers per shift.

Only a block of the facility has been opened for operations as some necessities, like the water system, are still being installed.

“So, it’s just a new house, the finishing is not yet finished. We are anticipating that after the New Year, those who have reserved, mostly from Pampanga and Metro Manila, will be housed there,” Bayugo said.

Chinese real estate billionaire Huang Rulun donated the drug treatment facility, which occupies a land area of 11 hectares and has a total construction area of 60,000 square meters.

With its 172 building units, it is the country’s first large-scale drug rehabilitation center.

“We savor the moment that Mr. Huang has traveled all the way from his homeland to share his money,” Duterte said during the inauguration last Nov. 29.

“With the help of course of the good souls in this planet, we will overcome (the drug problem),” the President added.

Huang, chairman of the board of Century Golden Resources Group, lauded Duterte for his intense campaign against illegal drugs and donated P1.4 billion to build two rehabilitation centers in the country.

He said his donation was his contribution to curbing the drug menace, which he called “the common enemy of mankind.”

“Drug trafficking and drug abusing are the chief culprits in wrecking the society and destroying the people’s minds. Drugs have long plagued governments and people all over the world, and the spread of drugs has brought great harm to the economic development and social stabilities of all countries in the world,” said Huang, who traded in Binondo, Manila in the 1980s.

‘Drug lords, repent’

In Isabela in Basilan, Bishop Martin Jumoad revealed that among his wishes for 2017 is for the country to be free of illegal drugs and for the drug lords to repent, a wish he shares with National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Regional Director Oscar Albayalde.

Albayalde urged persons involved in illegal drugs to renew their lives in the coming year “before they get arrested, or worst, killed.”

Jumoad wishes that 2017 will see less of summary executions and more help to reform the drug lords who continue to destroy lives and profit from selling illegal substances to the public.

“For our country to be free from drugs and for drug lords to repent and change their hearts. Rule of Law will prevail and our justice system will become better. Less jobless and more opportunities for employment in our country so we will have less absentee parents,” were some of the New Year’s wishes the bishop listed.

He said people should “observe high standards of morality and become more prayerful.”

Albayalde hopes that drug users will use the New Year to springboard to stop abusing drugs and renew their lives as he emphasized that the number of killings would be minimized if there would be no persons using illegal drugs next year.

Since Duterte assumed office on June 30, he said, the cases of deaths under investigation (DIU) in Metro Manila has climbed to more than 2,000. Of the number, only 200 cases were resolved – a term to mean that the perpetrators were identified, arrested and charged.

PNP spokesman Senior Supt. Dionardo Carlos said 2,167 drug personalities and 23 state security forces were killed in 40,371 anti-drug operations nationwide from July 1 to Dec. 31.

At least 43,114 persons were arrested while a total of 1,007,153 drug suspects have surrendered under Project Tokhang. Majority or 932,237 are alleged users while the remaining 74,916 are reportedly pushers.

In the same period, authorities visited 5,911,306 houses of people

with alleged involvement in illegal drugs.

He added that the NCRPO would intensify its campaign against illegal drugs in Metro Manila as it focuses more on suppressing the drug menace.

Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes said he is hoping that the death penalty would not be passed by Congress and there would be an end to extrajudicial killing (EJK).

“My wish is peace and prosperity. For ‘no to death penalty, no more EJK’ due to anti-drug campaign,” Bastes said, as he hopes the Supreme Court (SC) magistrates “would listen to the sentiments of the people.”

He is also against corruption and the railroading of the planned Constitutional amendment. – With Evelyn Macairan, Robertzon Ramirez, Emmanuel Tupas