NOBLE
CEBU CITY–About five months since the administration launched its relentless campaign against illegal drugs, 16 out of 1,066 barangays in Cebu province have declared themselves as “drug-free.”
These villages are all located in three municipalities on the southern part of Cebu: Alcoy, Boljoon, and Santander, said Senior Supt. Eric Noble, director of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO), who validated the report.
The areas earned their status based on the standards set by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in accordance to the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) Regulation 2 which provides the guidelines for the drug-clearing operations in the barangays.
“The best Christmas gift authorities can give to Cebu is to make the barangays drug-free,” he said during the Talakayan sa Isyung Police (TSIP) forum at the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas’ (PRO-7) Media Center on Monday.
Noble said the Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office (CPADAO) will verify the claims of the 16 barangays and will make the formal declaration on whether or not the localities are free from the influence of illegal drugs.
In Cebu, at least 60 of 1,066 barangays have been considered “drug-unaffected” areas. It means they have never been plagued or beset by any illegal drug activities.
The rest are deemed “drug-affected barangays” until 16 villages recently claimed to be “drug-free.”
According to the DDB regulations, an area can be considered drug-clear in the absence of the following: drug supply or drug transit/transshipment activities; drug laboratories and warehouses, chemical warehouses; marijuana cultivation sites; drug dens; users and pushers; and drug protectors, coddlers, and financiers.
A drug-cleared barangay must also have barangay officers who are active in various illegal drug activities such as a drug awareness and preventive campaign.
It should also have a voluntary and compulsory drug treatment and rehabilitation processing desk.
Those who declared themselves as drug-free are Barangays Pasol, Pugalo, Poblacion, and San Agustin in Alcoy town; Arbor, Baclayan, South Granada, Lower Becerril, Luntop, San Antonio, and Nangka in Boljoon town; and Candamyang, Liptong, Lo-oc, and Pasil in Santander town.