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BAGUIO CITY: The Police Regional Office-Cordillera Administrative Region (PRO-CAR) said 97.79 percent or 798 of the 816 drug-affected villages in the region have been declared drug cleared.
‘Cordillera region is the second nationwide with the most number of drug-cleared barangays. There are 32 barangays cleared during the term of President [Ferdinand R.] Marcos (Jr.)’ PCOL. Byron Tegui-in, chief of the PROCAR’s Regional Community Affairs and Development (RCAD) unit, said in an interview Thursday.
Of the total 1,176 villages in the region, 362 do not have drug-related issues while 18 remain drug-affected, he said.
Tegui-in said the municipalities of Besao in the Mountain Province and Hungduan in Ifugao are classified as drug-free while Tinoc, Asipulo, Banaue, and Lamut, all in Ifugao, were recently declared as drug-cleared.
Before an area can be declared as drug-cleared these must pass 13 parameters that will be evaluated by the Regional Oversight Committee for Barangay Drug Clearing, which is composed of
the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Health, Philippine National Police and the local government unit concerned.
The parameters include non-availability of drug supply; absence of drug transit/transshipment activity; absence of clandestine laboratory; absence of clandestine drug warehouse; absence of clandestine chemical warehouse; absence of marijuana cultivation site; absence of drug den, dive or resort; absence of drug user or drug dependent; and absence of protector, coddler, and financer.
The barangay should also have active involvement of the officials in anti-drug activities; active involvement of the Sangguniang Kabataan to help maintain the drug-liberated status of the barangay; the existence of drug awareness, preventive education, and information and other related programs; and the existence of voluntary and compulsory drug treatment and processing desks.
Tegui-in said drug-free workplaces are also important in the war against dru
g as mandated by the anti-illegal drugs law of 2002, civil service regulations as well as board resolutions of the Dangerous Drugs Board.
‘The PRO-CAR was declared a drug-free workplace last Dec. 4, 2023. All camp-based offices and units have undergone random mandatory drug testing in compliance with DDB regulation 13-2028,’ he said.
Key offices of the police – five police provincial police offices, one city police office, 36 municipal police stations, and 10 police stations – have also achieved the same status.
Anti-illegal drugs operations
From June 2022 to July 26, 2024, Tegui-in said PRO-CAR seized and destroyed PHP6.45 billion worth of illegal drugs and arrested 785 individuals.
Among the seized and destroyed illegal drugs are marijuana plants, marijuana stalk, and fruiting tops, marijuana dried leaves, marijuana oil, and shabu.
He said there are now about 36,352 anti-illegal drugs advocates in the region, helping disseminate information on the ill effects of illegal drugs.
Source: Philippines Ne
ws agency
