Alaminos City, 25 towns cleared by PDEA
22 TOWNS, CITIES TO GO
AFTER re-evaluating the conduct of the campaign against the illegal drug trade this year, twenty-five municipalities and a city have been confirmed to be drug-cleared by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Pangasinan Police Provincial Office (PPPO).
According to P/Colonel Redrico A. Maranan, PNP provincial director, the following were confirmed to continue to be drug-cleared: Alaminos City, the towns of Aguilar, Alcala, Anda, Bayambang, Bugallon, Burgos, Calasiao, Dasol, Labrador, Laoac, Lingayen, Mabini, Malasiqui, Mangaldan, Mangatarem, Mapandan, Natividad, Rosales, San Manuel, Sison, Sta. Barbara, Sta. Maria, Tayug., Villasis and Urbiztondo.
Only the town of Sto. Tomas remains in the drug-free category.
Of the 1,330 Barangays in the province, 1,023 barangays have been cleared of illegal drug trade.
The barangays noted to have reverted to their status as drug-affected are Poblacion East in Agno; Premicias in Bautista; Bugayong in Binalonan; San Vicente in San Jacinto; San Jose in San Nicolas and San Vicente in Urdaneta City.
The municipalities of Asingan, Balungao, Bani, Binmaley, Bolinao, Infanta, Manaoag, Pozorrubio, San Fabian, Sual, Umingan, and San Carlos City are still awaiting for the approval of the Regional Sub-committee.
Dagupan City and San Quintin were already endorsed by the PDEA, subject to the validation of the Provincial Sub-committee.
Meanwhile, PPPO continues to closely monitor the activities of the 17,000 drug surrenderees who are required to report to the police station for their regular activities under the community based rehabilitation program organized by Local Government and local police.
Maranan said, the anti-illegal drug operations are being intensified and stricter in compliance with the directive of Director General Oscar Albayalde and Police Regional Office 1 Director Joel Orduña.
He said, all the police stations are under orders to implement search warrants and to conduct more police operations in coordination with PDEA.
He said the Barangay Drug Clearing Operations have been strengthened through closer monitoring of all barangays in partnership with barangay officials and opening lines to communities to improve reporting of information on suspected persons involved in illegal drug trade.
He said the information from the communities are quickly validated and acted upon by the police stations.
He added that the internal reforms seeking to cleanse the ranks will continue with surprise drug tests. The recent surprise drug test conducted on the 400 police personnel all turned out negative, Maranan said.
Maranan said the Pangasinan PNP will continue to cooperate with the PDEA and to carry out the mission of reducing the numbers of Barangays and the drug-affected towns until the whole province of Pangasinan becomes totally drug-cleared following the marching order of Governor Amado Espino III. (Nora Dominguez)
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
