Bontoc, Mtn. Prov. – In support of the national government’s campaign against illegal drugs, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) here recently passed Resolution No. 2020-401 or A Resolution Declaring Marijuana Cultivators and Pushers as Persona Non Grata in Mountain Province.
According to Vice Gov. Francis O. Tauli, the resolution aims to safeguard the welfare of the community especially the youth from the harmful effects of dangerous drugs on their overall well-being.
Under the resolution, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s (PDEA) apprehensions of drug traffickers under the guise of being tourists alarmed the officialdom of the province; thus, the SP deemed it imperative to declare individuals involved in planting, using and manufacturing illegal drugs as ‘persona non-grata’ to make the citizens aware that such activities are illegal and are not tolerated.
Tauli said that this is also in support of the different resolutions that were passed by the Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council, the 10 municipal Local Government Units and their respective Municipal Anti-Drug Abuse Councils and all the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils.
It can be recalled that Mountain Province has been declared as a drug cleared province since 2017; however, reports from the PDEA confirmed that Mountain Province is serving as the most convenient route path for the transportation of illegal drugs.
In one instance, Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council Chair and Gov. Bonifacio C. Lacwasan, Jr. clarified if Mountain Province is the only route of individuals carrying illegal drugs to which the PDEA replied that Mtn. Province is not the trans-shipment point but the trans-shipment path. The PDEA added that the plantations eradicated in the province were of small areas only, except in the conflicted boundary area between Butbut, Bugnay and Betwagan and it is believed that the cultivators from the area were from Kalinga because the presence of marijuana plantations were reported by residents of Sadanga.
Meanwhile, the Provincial Government thru Governor Lacwasan, entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with PDEA for the provision of an office to house the PDEA–Mountain Province provincial office to show its commitment in maintaining the drug-cleared status of the province. **
