611 SUCCESSFUL ANTI-DRUG OPERATIONS

PHILIPPINE Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Region 1 said the recent arrests of 43 targeted drug personalities and 13 drug den maintainers were among the 721 persons arrested over the past 10-month period, highlighting its accomplishment from  January to October 2023.

Those arrested, according to PDEA Region 1 Director Joel Plaza, included 29 drug den visitors and four marijuana plantation cultivators.

Plaza said cases for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Anti-Drug Law were filed against 1,277 suspects who were arrested in 611 anti-drug operations in Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte.

PDEA also served 80 search warrants, conducted 10 marijuana eradication operations (5 by checkpoint, 7 by inflagrante delicto and eight others were made incidental to lawful arrests).

Plaza told the Kapihan sa Ilocos last week that PDEA’s operations confiscated more than two kilograms of shabu  and 11 milliliter of liquid shabu, both with a market value of P15.2 million.

Over the same 10-month period, PDEA seized 11,500 grams of dried marijuana leaves, uprooted 181 000 marijuana plants, seized 39,750 pieces of seedlings, 20,000 grams of stalks, 7.9 grams of kush, and 0. 323 grams of seeds, all valued at more than P42 million.

Plaza pointed out that 89 percent of the 3,607 barangays in the region were drug-affected when the intensified anti-drug operations were launched in 2016 and the situation has since been reversed. Today, 89 percent of the region’s barangays have already been drug cleared, leaving only 366 barangays yet to be cleared.

He added that more barangays are expected to be drug cleared as 46 of the towns and cities in the region have already established their respective Balay Silangan, a requirement before a municipality or city can be considered ‘drug-cleared’.

The 46 Balay Silangan had 1,335 clients, and 718 already graduated from in-house rehabilitation while 617 others are still undergoing rehabilitation.

Meanwhile, Plaza lauded the Pangasinan provincial government for putting up a provincial Balay Silangan, the only one in Region 1, that drug addicts and pushers whose towns still don’t have their own Balay Silangan, can use.

Balay Silangan is a reformation center run by local government units and supported by such agencies like the Bureau of Fire Protection, Department of Education, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, PNP, DILG, Philippine Information Agency, Technical Education Skills and Development Authority and others. (Leonardo Micua)

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