ZAFRA
CEBU City barangay officials were reminded to immediately submit their respective list of drug personalities ahead of the March 15 deadline to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
Councilor Philip Zafra, who heads the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC), also encouraged barangay officials to cleanse their ranks of drug users and peddlers.
“Anyway, there will be a revalidation to be conducted by PDEA,” Zafra said during yesterday’s consultative meeting among barangay captains, the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) and PDEA at the New White Gold House Restaurant.
PDEA 7 director Yogi Filemon Ruiz said only 14 out of the 80 barangays in Cebu City have submitted their list to their office.
Zafra said most of the barangay officials are still trying to validate their own list before submission.
Zafra said even if their lists were incomplete, they should still submit them to PDEA to avoid facing charges for failing to support the illegal drug campaign.
He said the barangays can still submit any new names to PDEA later on.
Yesterday’s meeting was the fifth of six meetings spearheaded by the ABC with the city police and PDEA.
Another meeting is scheduled today with the remaining 15 barangays.
The ABC held the consultative meetings to ensure clear coordination between the barangays, the police and the PDEA in the ongoing campaign against illegal drugs.
This came in the wake of the suspension of Barangay Ermita officials for their alleged failure to cooperate with PDEA’s drug raid of a shabu tiangge in their area last year.
Zafra, also a barangay chairman of Tisa, said he ordered barangay tanods, traffic enforcers and barangay auxiliary forces to tender their courtesy resignation prior to their assessment and evaluation.
Out of more than 35 workers, 25 immediately returned to work while the rest were being investigated.
Zafra said he will issue a memorandum requiring barangay officials to conduct house-cleaning of their ranks soon.