Chemists check on the at least P12 million worth of illegal drugs that are readied to be destroyed at the crematorium of a funeral home in Cebu City on November 13, 2020.| Photo courtesy of PDEA-7
DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental — Another batch of illegal drugs was burned by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7), a month after they destroyed P77 million worth of illegal drugs.
This morning, November 13, 2020, at least P12 million worth of illegal drugs were destroyed through thermal destruction at the crematorium office of the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes, along Junquera Street, Cebu City.
Read: Authorities burn P77M worth of illegal drugs
PDEA-7 Director Levi Ortiz said that the drug destruction was in compliance with the order of President Rodrigo Duterte to destroy all confiscated illegal drugs.
With this PDEA-7 had already destroyed close to P100 million worth of confiscated illegal drugs.
“As much as we would like to destroy all drug evidence right away, we have to wait the approval of the court. What we have destroyed are those with court orders. There are more seized illegal drugs that are with us for safekeeping and we are only awaiting for court orders before we can destroy them,” said Ortiz.
Ortiz assured the public that the PDEA7 will immediately destroy the illegal drugs once approved by the court.
According to PDEA-7, The illegal drugs destroyed this morning included an estimated 1.3 kilos of shabu worth an estimated P9 million, an estimated 21 kilos of marijuana worth an estimated P2.5 million, MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine) or ecstacy pills with an estimated worth of P800,000, and 1 ml of nubain worth P350.00.
LOOK: PDEA-7 burns P12 million worth of illegal drugs
Meanwhile, Ortiz said that there had been a notable slowdown in the distribution of illegal drugs in Cebu based on the PDEA-7 monitoring.
“The distribution has slowed down not just because of the pandemic but also because of our aggressive campaign in tandem with the police and other law enforcement agencies,” said Ortiz./dbs