Only 400 barangay chiefs in drug trade?
AS of last Friday, newly appointed Chief PNP Benjamin Acorda Jr. reported there are 400 barangay chairmen suspected to be engaged in or protecting illegal drug trade in their communities.
Going by that number out of 42,029 barangays in the country, one easily surmises that more than a thousand town/police chiefs are covering up for thousands more of kapitans protecting operations of drug dealers and dens.
In Pangasinan there are 1,364 barangays and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency reports that 1,089 are drug-cleared as of January 6, 2023 after complying with administrative requirements. We take note – administrative requirements.
Is it possible that out of the 400 barangay chiefs, only a handful, if any, are in Pangasinan?
The discovery of the P2.3-billion worth of shabu distribution operations in Pozorrubio town last August 2022 is enough to tell one that the numbers don’t add up. The reported drug-cleared barangays appear to be based solely on compliance with administrative issues, not with ongoing realities on the ground.
It behooves Pangasinan Police Provincial chief P/Col. Jeff Fanged to meet with his counterpart, PDEA Pangasinan chief Rechie Camacho for a current evaluation and validation of data on numbers and identification of suspected barangay kapitans involved in illegal drug trade.
We dare say, that we still have police chiefs in towns and cities that are covering up drug operations in their jurisdictions.
Gov. Ramon Guico III, Vice Gov. Mark Lambino and the board members should, at the very least, get the validated data not only to see how safe are the families in Pangasinan from the clutches of drug syndicates, but to plan how to better protect our families.
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