Section 31
Section 31 of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows: "SEC. 31. Compulsory Submission of a Drug Dependent to Treatment and Rehabilitation. — If a person charged with an offense is found by the fiscal or by the court, at any stage of the proceedings, to be a drug dependent, the fiscal or the court, as the case may be, shall suspend all further proceedings and transmit copies of the record of the case to the Board. "In the event the Board determines, after medical examination, that public interest requires that such drug dependent be committed to a center for treatment and rehabilitation, it shall file a petition for his commitment with the Court of First Instance, Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, or Circuit Criminal Court of the province or city where he is being investigated or tried: Provided, that any of said courts may take cognizance of such petition regardless of the age of the drug dependent: Provided, further, that where a criminal case is pending in court such petition shall be filed in the said court. The court shall take judicial notice of the prior proceedings in the case and shall proceed to hear the petition. If the court finds him to be a drug dependent, it shall order his commitment to a center for treatment and rehabilitation. The head of said center shall submit to the court every four months, or as often as the court may require, a written report on the progress of the treatment. If the dependent is rehabilitated, as certified by the center and the Board, he shall be returned to the court which committed him, for his discharge therefrom. "Thereafter, his prosecution for any offense punishable by law shall be instituted or shall continue, as the case may be. In case of conviction, the judgment shall indicate whether the full or partial period of his prior detention and of his confinement for treatment and rehabilitation shall be deducted from the period of the penalty imposed on him, taking into account his good behavior or misconduct while being detained or confined. "The period of prescription of the offense charged shall not run during the time that the respondent or the accused is under detention or confinement in a center."