Whether or not Cebu has the highest incidence of drug cases in the country or the highest number of drug users, coddlers and peddlers—it was reported that President Rodrigo Duterte claimed that Cebu has the highest rate of drug abuse in the country at 60 to 70 percent—the latest anti-drug operation showed that the illegal drug trade is still alive and kicking ferociously.
Arrested in last Friday’s operation by agents of the regional Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) was Marwin Abelgas, said to be a level three drug dealer who can dispose of five kilos of shabu a week.
Regional PDEA Director Yogi Felimon Ruiz said Abelgas, who is in his late 20s, won’t accept orders under 100 grams thus making his presence scarce enough from the police who go after drug peddlers dealing in small quantities of illegal drugs on a daily basis.
We can be sure that Abelgas won’t be the last drug dealer to be arrested and the P20 million worth of drugs reportedly seized from his possession to rank among the biggest drug hauls in Cebu and Central Visayas this year.
But it’s no longer news that Cebu is the major transhipment point for illegal drugs heading to the Visayas and Mindanao. It’s also not news that drug laboratories were discovered and busted here in Cebu in the early 2000s.
In fact some former public officials were linked to drugs, and former congressman Antonio Cuenco pushed for a congressional inquiry on Cebu’s worsening drug trade backed by prominent local businessmen.
This may be the “old news” that police and local officials may have referred to when asked where President Duterte got his basis for declaring Cebu as having the highest drug use rate in the country.
Whenever he talks about the drug menace in the country, President Duterte would always show the thick folders containing information on drug suspects and their extensive networks in the country and he brandished these during his recent visit to Cebu for the groundbreaking of the Cebu-Cordova Expresslink project.
It would take some time to study, verify and refute, if any, the President’s claims. For sure local officials have basis to believe that the drug menace may not just center in Cebu but elsewhere around the country.
If anything, the President’s claims should not only serve as a challenge to law enforcement agencies but to civil society and the communities to double their efforts to encourage their constituents to totally reject and report illegal drug activities in their areas.
And stakeholders in Cebu are not without basis to monitor the performance of the police, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the military and other law enforcement agencies recruited in the war on illegal drugs.
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