美国国家公共电台 NPR The Nightmarish Conditions For Drug Suspects In Philippine Jails

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The Nightmarish Conditions For Drug Suspects In Philippine Jails 

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The president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, says he's going to rein² in his foul³ language after receiving a message from God. But his war on drugs? The one that's brought him international condemnation⁴ for its rounding up many thousands of alleged⁵ drug dealers⁶ and users and also committed alleged extrajudicial killings⁷? Full speed ahead. But as Michael Sullivan reports, the country's prison and health system can't support it.

MICHAEL SULLIVAN, BYLINE⁸: It's 11:00 at night at a local precinct station in Tondo, in one of Manila's most notorious slums. And the holding cell here is packed so tightly some of the prisoners are literally⁹ hanging from the walls and ceilings - in hammocks, that is, strung above the heads of those standing¹⁰ or lying below. The cell's capacity, in theory, is 45 people. The station's deputy commander, Robinson Maranion, says there's more than a hundred crammed¹¹ into the tiny space, so many they have to sleep in shifts.

ROBINSON MARANION: Four hours. Maybe four hours. And then the others will lie down. Then after four hours, the others will stand up also and the others will lie down.

SULLIVAN: So how long do these people end up staying here?

MARANION: Some of them, they stay three months, already three months.

SULLIVAN: That's because the system can't process them out of here and into the central jail to wait for trial fast enough, he says. He wants a bigger cell, but he's going to have to wait. Everyone is, according to President Duterte, both the people charged with locking the dealers and the users up and the people charged with cleaning them up.

PRESIDENT RODRIGO DUTERTE: I am operating on a budget that was prepared by the other year, the previous year. Just like in any country, America, you prepare the budget now for next year's implementation¹². You know, we do not have the money.

SULLIVAN: And nobody expected there would be so many pushers and users out there, or that more than 730,000 users would surrender in the first four months.

PHILIP VERA CRUZ: Of course we were caught unaware¹³.

SULLIVAN: That's Philip Vera Cruz of the government's Dangerous Drugs Bureau. One of the biggest problems, he admits - beds. Treatment centers for the worst-off.

VERA CRUZ: We have 44 accredited¹⁴ rehabilitation¹⁵ centers all over the country, so the total bed capacity is 3,216.

SULLIVAN: Three thousand, two hundred sixteen beds for a country of 100 million people. Vera Cruz reckons the government needs at least double that number. Dr. Alvin Regada says more. Try 100,000, he says. Regada is the head of intake¹⁶ at Tahanan in Quezon City, one of the state-accredited facilities. And it's not just a shortage of beds, he says, but staff because only doctors specifically accredited by the Department of Health are allowed to diagnose drug dependence¹⁷. And there's not many of them nationwide, either.

ALVIN REGADA: I think it's only less than 200 physicians who are DOH accredited.

SULLIVAN: It's more like 150 by most estimates. But the Dangerous Drugs Bureau's Philip Vera Cruz insists more of everything is on the way - more doctors, more treatment centers.

VERA CRUZ: The Congress has ensured that the programs of the president should be properly budgeted for next year.

SULLIVAN: It's in the pipeline¹⁸.

VERA CRUZ: Yes, basically. Yes.

SULLIVAN: You're just going to have to gut¹⁹ this one out until next year.

VERA CRUZ: Yes. So we'll just try to make do.

SULLIVAN: With existing treatment centers, outpatient clinics and weekly Zumba classes run by local police for surrenderees. Even President Duterte's new best friend, China, has ponied²⁰ up money for a new treatment center. Tahanan's intake director, Dr. Alvin Regada, says it's a start, but...

REGADA: It can only accommodate 15,000. So where does the 100,000-plus more drug dependents will go?

SULLIVAN: Where indeed? At Regada's facility, all 150 beds are full and there's a waiting list. And that's pretty much the case everywhere in the country, which means a lot of people who need help just aren't getting it and won't for a while. For NPR News, I'm Michael Sullivan in Manila.