DoubleDragon joins list of companies backing Duterte’s anti-drug campaign

Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News Posted at Feb 26 2017 06:52 PM Updated as of Feb 27 2017 12:12 AM http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/02/26/17/doubledragon-joins-list-of-companies-backing-dutertes-anti-drug-campaign BORACAY — DoubleDragon Properties has aligned CityMalls, its mall-developing unit, with President Rodrigo Duterte’s intensified campaign against illegal drugs by donating some of its profit to fund drug rehabilitation centers and programs of the government, the conglomerate’s president said on Saturday. “We have partnered with DTI’s Go Lokal project wherein all the products of each town in the country will be sold in CityMalls… A portion of the income will be donated to drug rehabilitation centers and programs of the government,” DoubleDragon president Ferdinand Sia said. The group also shares the Duterte administration’s thrust to veer away from the capital and instead push for developments in rural communities, Sia said. “It (Duterte’s policy) has actually the same concept as City Malls — the decentralization from Manila. The expansion is more focused on Northern Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao,” Sia said at the sidelines of the opening of CityMall Boracay on Saturday. DoubleDragon is the latest conglomerate to back Duterte’s war on drugs, following funding commitments and contributions from other business giants. Chinese tycoon Huang Rulun, Megaworld and DMCI, have shouldered the construction and operating expenses of a “mega” drug rehabilitiation facility that can accommodate 10,000 patients in Nueva Ecija. Travellers International Group, Resorts World Manila and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation have partnered to put up a “world-class” rehabilitation center in Barangay Malagos in Davao City. The Ayala Foundation has pledged to build a 70-bed rehabilitation center in Marawi City, while the San Miguel Corporation president Ramon Ang has committed to fund future rehabilitation centers and a hospital for soldiers.