BARANGAYS DRUG-CLEARED

“WE were a silver awardee of the Anti-Drug Abuse Council by DILG and would not have been given this award had we not cleared many of our barangays”.

This was the reaction of former Mayor Belen Fernandez to the report of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) that no barangay in Dagupan City was ever cleared of drugs in the past, till today.

“We cannot say that all the 31 barangays in the city were cleared of illegal drugs. Paano mo naman ma clear ang Barangay 2 & 3, as well as Bonuan Binloc? Mahirap. hindi ba?, Fernandez said in her talk over K-17 Kabaleyan Channel on August 2.

She said the silver award received by the city from DILG was a recognition that we were succeeding in our efforts to eliminate illegal drugs in our city.

Dagupan was given a rating of 95 percent which was considered as an “ideal performance” by any anti-drug abuse council, hence the award.

Fernandez, along with then chief of police, P/Lt. Col. Jandale Sulit, received the award from Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año and then Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go on December 28, 2018 in a ceremony at Tent City in Manila Hotel.

Fernandez said Dagupan could have been rated higher had one high-value target who may have been in the city at that time was arrested but he was hard to locate because he was moving from one place to another.

“I can say that during my time, the PNP and the PDEA were working well and really did their best to stop illegal drugs in Dagupan,” Fernandez said.

She recalled that more than 700 pushers and users were arrested during her first term, and more than 1,000 drug personalities in the city surrendered after President Duterte launched the nationwide war on drugs.

Through the Sagip User Rehabilitation and Empowerment Program (SAGIP), more than 700 of the surrenderers completed their rehabilitation and were given jobs and livelihood projects. She said she believed the other reason for the the silver award was SAGIP.

Fernandez said she submitted the required documents certifying drug-clearing in the barangays to the PNP which in turn were submitted to the PDEA. However, she said these were returned subject to the accomplishment of new requirements – requiring information on whereabouts of drug personalities who could no longer be accounted for in their original barangays.

“Our police and barangay chairmen are already working to comply with additional administrative requirements,” Fernandez said.

Fernandez said she expects Mayor Brian Lim to equal if not to do more than what her administration accomplished in the campaign against illegal drugs.  (Leonardo Micua) 

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