CCPO deputy operations director Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla. CDN Digital Photo | Pegeen Maisie M. Sararaña
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City police have made some headway in the war against drugs in the city after the Regional Oversight Committee declared two more barangays in the city as drug-cleared barangays.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla said that they were grateful for the committee to declare Barangays Sinsin and Sapangdaku as drug-cleared barangays.
Parilla said this would make 4 out of the 80 barangays in Cebu City as drug-cleared barangays.
The first two barangays in the city, which have been declared drug-cleared last May, are Barangays Sudlon and Sto. Niño.
According to Parilla, Barangay Sinsin and Sapangdaku are barangays in a mountain area in the city, which was a contributing factor in their being declared as drug-free.
Despite this, Parilla said this was a positive development considering that the city had been affected by illegal drugs.
Director Levi Ortiz of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) even called Cebu City last March 2021 as being 100 percent affected by illegal drugs.
READ: PDEA-7 chief: Cebu City still 100% affected by drugs
Sustaining drug-cleared barangay status
With this recent development, Parilla said they would continue to monitor these barangays so that the status would be sustained in the long term.
He said it took them quite some time to have these barangays cleared of illegal drugs.
He admitted that they started the process last 2016 yet.
“Pag 2016 nagstart ang pag process sa barangay as drug cleared. Karon pa lang ta naka declare because considering Cebu City, most of our barangays are seriously affected,” Parilla said.
(The process started in 2016 but it was only today that it was declared drug free because considering Cebu City, most of our barangays are seriously affected.)
“For example, Duljo, Calamba nga known gyud kaayo nga seriously affected, so di na nato basta basta nga madeclare just like other barangays. Naa pa nay proseso from seriously, mamoderate to slightly affected before madeclare nga drug free,” he added.
(For example, [barangays] Duljo, Calamba, which are known as seriously-affected, so we could not just have these areas declared drug-free like other barangays. There is a process from seriously affected to moderate to slightly affected before we can declare them drug free.)
Parilla said representatives from the City Office for Substance Abuse and Prevention (Cosap) and PDEA-7 attended June 30’s Regional Oversight Committee meeting and informed us about the declaration of the status of these barangays.
The drug clearing regional oversight committee is made up of representatives of the Philippine National Police, Cosap and PDEA-7.
He said that today, the representatives of Cosap and PDEA-7 sat with our station commanders so that they could submit some paperwork needed for the declaration of the status of the barangays and to brief them on the other guidelines needed.
Barangay cooperation needed
Aside from that, Parilla also appealed to the respective local government unit of every barangays to provide their continuous cooperation to the police and members of the drug-clearing committee so that this situation could be sustained.
He said that this was also because barangay officials’ help would play a big part in sustaining this drug-cleared status of these barangays.
“It cannot be done by the PNP alone. It needs participation sa mga barangay officials. Ang dako gyud nga papel gani kay ang barangay officials nga mutabang gyud sila ani,” Parilla said.
(It cannot be done by the PNP alone. It needs participation of the barangay officials. The barangay officials help will play a big role in this.)
“Kay without the help sa barangay bisag unsaon sa pulis or sa Pdea di gyud na madeclare as drug free kay mostly ang mga requirements done sa mga officials,” he added.
(Without their help, whatever the Police or PDEA would do to declare these barangays as drug free would be for naught, because mostly the barangay officials would be the ones to comply with the requirements to attain this status.)
Recently, the PDEA-7 has also admitted that cooperation of the barangays had made drug clearing possible.
Leia Albiar, PDEA-7 spokesperson, said that the creation of the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council in every local government unit was also a huge factor in keeping the cooperation not only of barangay officials but also of the community to sustain the peace and order situation in their areas.
READ: PDEA-7: Cooperation made drug clearing of 2 barangays in Cebu City possible
Parameters for drug-cleared barangays
Parilla clarified that zero proliferation was among the parameters they had for declaring a barangay as drug-free.
Apart from this, barangay intervention is also among the parameters.
“Duna na syay daghan nga parameters pag declare sa usa ka barangay nga drug free. It doesn’t mean nga walay misuyop or manggamitay,” he said.
(We have a lot of parameters to declare one barangay as drug-free. It, however, does not mean that the area had no drug user.)
“Aside from that, as long as nga ang barangay aduna say mga actions nga gihimo, duna silay mga interventions with regards sa fight against illegal drugs like barangay rehabilitation,” Parilla said.
(Aside from that, as along as the barangay has made some action or intervention with regard to the against illegal drugs like barangay rehabilitation.)
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