WAR ON DRUGS

THE Pangasinan Police reported the arrests of 927 drug personalities from Jan.1 to Nov.11 this year from their 895 operations.

P/Col. Redrico Maranan, provincial director of Pangasinan Police Provincial Office (PPPO), said arrested were 664 are pushers and 267 users and seized  834.7111 grams of shabu and 1,080.453 grams of marijuana.

Still, only 1,027 barangays out of 1,271 in Pangasinan remain drug-cleared, he added.

Of the 48 towns and cities in the province, 26 have been declared drug-free by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) as of Oct.31, 2019. Sto. Tomas town was never drug-affected.

He said, the drug-cleared barangays are in twenty five towns and cities that have been cleared with illegal drugs: Laoac, Dasol, Mapandan, Natividad, Anda, Mabini, Alcala, Malasiqui, Burgos, Sta. Maria, Sison, Aguilar, Bugallon, Lingayen, Bayambang, Mangatarem, Rosales, Labrador, Calasiao, Villasis, San Manuel, Sta. Barbara, Mangaldan, Urbiztondo and Tayug and the lone city of Alaminos. Only the town of Sto. Tomas is listed under the drug-free category.

“We are 80-85 percent done with our anti-illegal drugs campaign in our province. The rehabilitation for the drug surrenderers remains a challenge since it should be done voluntarily by the surrenderers themselves,” Maranan said.

Five barangays previously declared drug cleared were reverted to drug-affected status by PDEA-PNP drug clearing committee: Poblacion East, Agno; Barangay Primicias in Bautista town; Barangay Bugayong in Binalonan town, Barangay San Vicente in San Jacinto town and Barangay San Vicente in Urdaneta City.

“Basista and San Nicolas towns are awaiting declaration as drug-cleared, while 12 are waiting for approval of the regional sub-committee while San Quintin and Dagupan City have been endorsed to PDEA and await the provincial sub-committee’s endorsement upon validation of the submitted requirements,” said P/Maj. Exzur Relatado, chief of PPPO’s provincial operations and plans branch.

Meanwhile, drug-cleared status of Binalonan, Agno, Bautista, San Jacinto and Urdaneta City have been recalled.

Relatado said 17,485 out of the 20,471 drug surrenderers in the province have graduated from the recovery and wellness program organized by the PPPO in collaboration with local city and municipal governments:15,892 graduated from the LGU initiated recovery and wellness program, while the 1,593 graduated from the PPPO initiated program.

Some 242 drug surrenderers have completed rehabilitation and while four more are still being treated.

On the negative side, its unrelenting operations arrested again 456 of the surrenderers in anti-illegal drugs operations, Relatado said.

Maranan said there will be no let up for the anti-illegal drug campaign until the whole province is declared drug-free. (Helen Martin/Nora Dominguez)

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