Eastern Visayas cops step up anti-drug war in villages this year

PALO, Leyte, Jan. 11 (PNA) -– Clearing all drug-affected villages of the drug menace will be a top priority of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Eastern Visayas this year.

PNP Regional Director Chief Supt. Elmer Beltejar said that as instructed by the top police officials, the regional office will step up the anti-drug war down to the village level.

“Declaring villages as free from illegal drugs is the ultimate measurement that we can say our country is free from this menace,” Beltejar told reporters.

Authorities earlier identified 2,474 out of 4,390 villages in Eastern Visayas as seriously affected by illegal drugs.

From October 2016 to the first week of January, there are only 370 villages cleared from proliferation of illicit drugs, representing 18 percent of the total affected areas.

Declaration of a community as illegal drug-free underwent rigorous evaluation down to the grassroots in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and village anti-drug abuse councils.

A village can be declared as drug-free if there’s an absence of drug transit or transhipment activity, drug laboratory, marijuana cultivation site, drug den, drug pusher, drug dependent, protector or coddler, and financier.

Authorities also look into the active involvement of local officials in anti-drug campaign; existence of drug awareness, preventive education and information, and other related programs; and existence of voluntary and compulsory drug treatment and rehabilitation processing desk.

The intensified campaign against illegal drugs had resulted in the reduction of illegal drug supply in the region and raise its price, according to Beltejar. (PNA)
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