POLICE stepped up anti-illegal drugs operations after President Rodrigo Duterte challenged barangay captains to play a vital role in the war against illegal drugs — a challenge accepted by the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) Cebu City.
Police arrested seven persons and confiscated at least P78,000 worth of suspected shabu in separate anti-drug operations in the cities of Cebu, Talisay, and Mandaue since Thursday.
Aside from that police also destroyed marijuana plants, which could produce marijuana leaves amounting to P2 million in Mount Manunggal in Balamban town, western Cebu.
“The President is right. We, at the grassroots level, must nip it in the bud,” said ABC Cebu City President Philip Zafra in an interview on Friday.
Zafra said that the ABC Cebu City would step up the campaign against illegal drugs.
He said they will nonetheless continue to collaborate with law enforcement units such as the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Philippine National Police to effectively carry out the mission.
“We’ll have to sit down with PDEA and the PNP to find ways on how to fight illegal drugs more effectively,” Zafra said.
“Remember drug syndicates are armed and our barangay tanods are not allowed to carry guns. So what we do is we let our law enforcement units do the operation while we in the barangays will support them,” he added.
Zafra said he will schedule a meeting with the law enforcement units before his term ends on June 30.
“We need to know our roles,” he said.
In a speech on Thursday, President Duterte said barangay captains play a vital role in the war against drugs, adding they are the key to ending the problem that has hounded the country for decades now.
He also echoed his warning to barangay captains and other village officials to stay away from illegal drugs or they will suffer the consequences of their actions.
The country’s top official said the involvement of a number of barangays in the illegal drugs trade has been an obstacle to ending the problem.
President Duterte led the oath taking of 3,013 barangay captains in Central Visayas at the Hoops Dome in Lapu-Lapu City on Thursday night. / with reports from Correspondents John Michael Aroa, Benjie B. Talisic, Norman V. Mendoza and CNU Intern Bea Samantha Esteves