ESPINO (CDN PHOTO/NESTLE SEMILLA)
The police in Central Visayas will continue to shift their focus on the supply side in their war against illegal drugs.
Chief Supt. Jose Mario Espino, Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) director, said this after President Rodrigo Duterte admitted that the country could not control the drug problem in the country.
“Sabi ko, ang America, hindi nga niya makontrol iyong drugs, tayo pa kaya? (If America could not control their illegal drug problem, how much more for us?),” said Duterte in a speech before medical practitioners on Friday in Davao City.
Duterte cited the country’s long coastline and thousands of islands as among the challenges that the authorities face to stop the smuggling of drugs in the country.
Illegal drugs’ demand
However, Espino said that the President must have been discussing about the “demand of illegal drugs” in the country.
“It’s difficult to control the demand of illegal drugs because it involves the choice of the person,” Espino said in Filipino.
So, Espino said, if the government could not control the demand side then the government would shift its focus on stopping the supply side of the illegal drug trade.
However, he said police had started shifting their focus on the supply side by going after high-value targets, a move that had been implemented during the previous PRO-7 chief’s time in the first quarter of the year when Operation Double Barrel was resumed.
Espino defined a high-value target as a person whom they monitored to be supplying illegal drugs in a certain area.
LGUs help
He also called on local government units to help them in their efforts to stop the supply and reduce the demand of illegal drugs in their areas.
“Perhaps, we could not control this 100 percent, but there are cities already like Bogo City that has been declared as a drug-free city,” Espino said in Filipino.
Bogo was declared by Gov. Hilario Davide III as drug-free last July after it was recommended by the Oversight Committee on Illegal Drugs headed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas chief, Yogi Filemon Ruiz.
Consolacion shooting
As Espino reiterated the police thrust in the illegal drug war, a drug surrenderer from Danao City was shot dead by an unidentified gunman on Saturday in Sitio Laray, Barangay Cansaga, Consolacion town in northern Cebu.
PO2 Mark Gil Rosaroso of the Consolacion Police Station identified the victim as Antonio Alcala, 36, of Barangay Malapoc, Danao City.
Rosaroso said Alcala was shot several times in the body with a .45 pistol.
Drugs recovered
Rosaroso also said that they recovered five sachets of suspected shabu a cell phone and empty shells of a .45 pistol at the crime scene.
Police were still investigating the shooting incident./With Correspondent Winston P. Ensomo