BONTOC, Mountain Province(PIA)—The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency reported that 79 barangays in this province remain drug free.
PDEA- Mountain Province Provincial Director Edwin C. Changrapen informed during the 1st Quarter Meeting of the Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council (PADAC) that the 79 barangays were declared and verified as drug-free barangays.
Changrapen also bared that of the province’s 144 barangays, 65 barangays were affected but 63 were validated as drug-cleared while two others are under validation.
The municipalities of Barlig, Sabangan, Besao and Sadanga were also given clearance by the PDEA to proceed with applications to be declared as drug/free municipalities.
The PDEA further reported that “shabu” is still the most abused drug in the province. Of the drug surrenderers, 88 percent were “shabu” users while 12% used marijuana.
Accordingly, the source of “shabu” are from the neighboring areas such as Baguio City. As to marijuana, among the sources are some municipalities of Kalinga and the boundary of Sadanga and Buscalan.
The PDEA also reported that in line with the continuous marijuana eradication activities of government operatives, 18,260 fully grown MJ plants with estimated value of P3,652,000.00 were uprooted and destroyed during recent operations.
The PADAC plans to intensify the campaign against illegal drugs with the re-visitation and monitoring of all drug surrenderers, and revitalization of the PNP-ADACs joint efforts activities through the BIDA (Buhay Ingatan, Droga’y Ayawan) program with support from other Law Enforcement Agencies, stakeholders, and government units.
Reverend Father Marcial Lloyd C. Castañeda proposed that the projects’ programs and activities of the different council members should be preventive and curative. **JDP/CVBT-PIA Mtn. Province
