NEW DRUG BUSTS NET 47, VILLAGE COUNCILMAN

ANOTHER BARANGAY LEADER ARRESTED FOR DRUGS. Councilman Irvin Doños (right) of Barangay Catmondaan, Catmon town in northern Cebu is handcuffed after he was arrested by Cebu Provincial Police Office – Provincial Intelligence Branch (CPPO-PIB) agents for alleged drug-peddling activities. Police describe him as an alleged level 2 drug pusher.
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA

There seems to be no end to the war against illegal drugs.

The police on Wednesday arrested 47 persons in yet another “One Time, Big Time” (OTBT) operation throughout Cebu City and seized a total of 142.79 grams of shabu valued at about P1.7 million.

At least 68 other persons were also arrested for their alleged involvement in illegal gambling, robbery, theft and other violations.

Criminal complaints will be filed against all the suspects at the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office.

It was the 29th operation wherein all 11 police stations in the city took part in implementing simultaneous raids.

Based on the records of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), there were already at least 947 drug suspects who were arrested in the OTBT operations since the program was implemented in August 2016.

A total of 2,522 grams of shabu (methamphetamine) worth P84.2 million were seized in those operations, which the local police also dubbed as “Oplan Pokemon.”

The question

Despite what police considered an accomplishment, Senior Supt. Joel Doria, director of the CCPO, is on a quandary as to why illegal drugs continue to thrive amid their relentless campaign to get rid of the illegal substance.

“That is our question. Malaking problema talaga ang droga (Illegal drugs is really a big problem),” he told Cebu Daily News yesterday.

Based on their monitoring, Doria said a number of drug surrenderers returned to their old ways, while new drug pushers and users have joined in the fray.

In Catmon town, north Cebu, a councilman in Barangay Catmondaan was arrested by the police in a drug bust past 4 p.m. on Wednesday.

Irvin Ares Doños, who was placed under surveillance for a month, yielded 18 sachets of shabu, said Senior Insp. Narciso Abapo, chief of the Catmon police.

Doños is the sixth municipal or village official who has been arrested in Cebu for illegal drug activities since the start of this month.

Doños, 38, surrendered to the police during the implementation of the Oplan Tokhang last year, but he allegedly continued selling illegal drugs, said Abapo.

An entrapment operation was hatched by the Provincial Intelligence Branch and the Drug Enforcement Unit, which led to the arrest of Doños.

During the operation, Doños allegedly handed over a small pack of shabu to an undercover policeman outside his house.

He was immediately arrested by the police. Also taken from his possession were 19 other small plastic packs of shabu.

According to Abapo, Doños denied peddling illegal drugs but admitted to using shabu.

In Lapu-Lapu City, packs of shabu worth P767,000 were seized in separate drug operations on Tuesday.

Police arrested Mark Quero in a drug bust in Barangay Ibo and seized P590,000 worth of drugs. In another operation, police caught Jay Morales and Susan Bandao inside a motel in Barangay Pajo. Seized from them were P177,000 worth of illegal drugs.

Drug-free Bogo City

While the police continue to battle illegal drugs in the cities of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu and in Catmon town, the Cebu Oversight Committee on Illegal Drugs declared all 29 barangays in Bogo City, north Cebu, as “drug-free.”

Bogo City is the first city in Central Visayas to have received such a feat.

The Oversight Committee led by Director Yogi Filemon Ruiz of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) said all 29 barangays in Bogo City do not have any supply of illegal drugs, a shabu laboratory, and its pushers and users have stopped their involvement in illegal drugs.

At least 11 barangays in San Remigio town, north Cebu, were also cleared of illegal drugs, bringing the total number of drug-free barangays in Cebu to 160.

A ceremony recognizing the new addition to the drug-free list of the Oversight Committee was held at the Capitol Social Hall on Thursday.

During the event, Ruiz challenged drug-cleared barangays not to be complacent and to continue monitoring the activities in their area.

“This is a new challenge for you, and we from the PDEA is proud to say that Cebu province is the first ever in Central Visayas to have a city or municipality that is entirely drug-cleared,” he said.

A week ago, Cebu was tagged as a hot spot for illegal drugs by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Reports from the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) showed that nearly 90 percent of all 1,066 barangays in Cebu province are still affected by illegal drugs.

But Ruiz expressed hope that more villages will be declared drug-free.

“There are those who fail to meet the requirements (to be declared drug-free), maybe because of the failure to exert more efforts in the intensified campaign illegal drugs. And maybe they never do anything about the drug problem in their communities. But there are some who had complied, and will comply,” he said.

He said that PDEA-7 is strictly following instructions from their headquarters in Metro Manila to make sure that all barangays in the country, especially in Cebu province, will be cleared of illegal drugs.

Ruiz also said PDEA-7 is doing its best to help barangay officials in acquiring a certification of being a drug-cleared place.

“We have conducted validation on the barangays who wanted to be certified as drug-cleared. These barangays have already submitted a list of drug personalities found in their area, and that’s a start. But we have to do more than that. That’s why we are mentoring them. We are teaching them realistic procedures and policies so that they can be among the list of drug-cleared barangays,” he said.

Big brother concept

Bogo City Mayor Jose Carlo Martinez and San Remigio Mayor Mariano Martinez were present during the ceremony yesterday.

In an interview, the Bogo mayor said that there is no secret formula for an entire town or city to have all of its barangays declared as drug-cleared.

“What we did is that we acted as big brother to our fellow barangays. As the city government of Bogo, we assisted them in their needs on all aspects such as technical, logistics and financial. We were there to help them,” he said.

The mayor said he is confident that they can sustain their reputation as a drug-free city.

He said they are conducting community-based rehabilitation and reintegration programs to help drug pushers and users renew their lives.

“We turn our drug rehabilitation students as warriors against illegal drugs. What they do is to spread the word on the menace brought by illegal drugs.

They help in explaining to our constituents why using illegal drugs is really evil. And I believe that is just one step on maintaining this image,” Martinez said.

Also present during the ceremonial declaration of the second batch of drug-cleared barangays were Gov. Hilario Davide III and Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office head Carmen Remedios Meca, Department of Interior and Local Government Central Visayas head Rene Burdeos, and Chief Supt. Jose Mario Espino, the new director of PRO-7.

In his speech, Espino said the war on drugs will continue.

“While we are aiming to reduce the supply of illegal drugs, we also need to reduce its demand. I ask the participation of other agencies on helping us reduce the demand of illegal drugs so that by 2020, our vision of having a drug-free Cebu will come into reality,” he said.