11 drug users-runners surrender to MBTF
OUT OF FEAR FOR THEIR LIVES
ELEVEN confessed drug users, runners from Barangay Pantal, two of whom are women, surrendered to Mayor Belen T. Fernandez on the day she signed Executive Order No. 20 creating ‘Task Force Disiplina’ on July 1 in support of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s campaign vs. criminality.
Accompanied by Barangay Kagawad Felipe Maramba, the suspects were received by the mayor at the City Museum.
Dagupan City Police Chief P/Supt. Christopher N. Abrahano, however, pointed out that those who voluntarily surrendered to the authorities will still have to sign an undertaking that they will stop their involvement in drug trafficking and using drugs and submit to voluntary drug testing and rehabilitation.
Abrahano had warned that those who surrender cannot escape or delay prosecution and arrest but he encouraged those who have pending warrants of arrest to surrender unconditionally to avoid a possible violent arrest.
Some of the suspects claim they are involved in drug trafficking out of poverty while others have become dependents.
They said they decided to surrender out of fear for their lives because of the reported unorthodox policy of the President in fighting criminality particularly those involved in the sale and use of illegal drugs.
Mayor Fernandez, in her meeting with the suspects, promised to extend assistance to them by helping them have an alternative livelihood but only after they have been processed and their crimes accounted for by law.
“I am here to meet them to personally assess their sincerity in turning a new leaf. And those who will voluntarily subject themselves to rehabilitation, we will extend some financial assistance to help defray some costs of their rehabilitation,” said Ms. Fernandez.
The mayor said the enforcement of Executive Order No. 20 effective July 1, initially requires the city to start warning those whose names are in the drug lists.
“I am happy that our counterparts in the barangays like Punong Barangay Rico Mejia of Bonuan Gueset are already warning drug users and pushers in their area. We appreciate their show of cooperation but it would be best for those who are still on the run to surrender and promise to reform themselves,” the mayor said.
PDEA Pangasinan also processed the suspects’ voluntary surrender. (JCB_CIO)
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