MARAWI CITY Mayor Majul Gandamra recently met with top officials of the Ayala Foundation in Makati City to sign an agreement to build a drug-rehabilitation center. The center, to be built in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, will be financed by the Ayala Foundation.
In his address to the Ayala officials, Gandamra lauded the initiative of the foundation to help resolve the illegal-drugs crisis in the country and appreciated the fact they had chosen Marawi City to build its first rehab facility.
“This would be a great help to Marawi’s crusade to crush illegal-drugs addiction. Because of our campaign against illegal drugs, more than 600 users have already surrendered to the police. With the facility, these users will have the opportunity to get themselves rehabilitated and start a new, clean life,” he said.
He said once the facility is fully operational, it will eventually be turned over to the local government of Marawi.
The facility, which has been named Siyapen Drug Rehabilitation Center, will be housed in a four-story building, The name Siyapen was chosen because it means “care” in Maranao, Maranan said. “It will be mostly an outpatient facility, with the families of the users playing a major role in helping the patients in their rehabilitation. Around 10 percent of the patients will be treated in-house.”
For their part, brothers Fernando and Jaime Zobel de Ayala said building the facility is the Ayalas’ response to Duterte’s call for the private sector to help the government crush the country’s illegal-drugs problem.
Gandamra said his administration has been clamping down on drug users and dealers ever since Duterte’s campaign versus illegal drugs was launched. “With the fight against drugs in full force in Metro Manila, many dealers have gone into hiding or moved their operations in the provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao,” he said.
Elected for his first term as mayor last May, Gandamra has been busy establishing the framework for the revitalization of his city. These include steps to beef up infrastructure by improving electric-power supply for the city and building new roads. The mayor is also out to restore peace and order and make Marawi more viable as a tourist destination. The city is located on hilly terrain and overlooks Lake Lanao. Crushing the drug problem, he said, would help maintain peace in the city.
“Together, hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder, we will overcome the obstacles so that we can reconstruct, rebuild and reform Marawi to its former glory where our children and children’s children can enjoy a peaceful, fear-free and illegal drug-free Marawi that we can truly be proud of,” he said.