PDEA-7: Drug clearing program doable, effective in highly urbanized cities

Director III Levi Ortiz of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA-7) convene with other members of the Regional Oversight Committee on Barangay Drug Clearing (ROCBDC) last September 28. | Photo courtesy of PDEA-7

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Barangay Drug Clearing Program of the government is also doable and effective in highly urbanized cities (HUCs).

Leia Alcantara, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) spokesperson, said this was the assessment of PDEA-7 after 11 barangays of three highly urbanized cities in Cebu Island were among those declared as drug-cleared barangays this year.

Alcantara said that the Regional Oversight Committee on Barangay Drug Clearing (ROCBDC), which PDEA-7 is a part of, also noted during their Sept. 28 to 29 meeting that two of the seven drug-cleared barangays in Cebu City, which is a highly urbanized city, were located downtown or in the urban areas.

These are Barangays Santo Niño and Parian.

The other five drug-cleared barangays of Cebu City were those from the mountain areas of the city —  Sinsin, Sapangdaku, Sudlon, Sudlon 2, and Toong.

The other two HUCs with drug-cleared barangays are Lapu-Lapu City with 3 barangays and Mandaue City with 1.

The three drug-cleared barangays in Lapu-Lapu are Baring, Tingo, and Tungasan while Mandaue City has Barangay Bakilid as its drug-cleared barangay.

“Kasagaran niingun sa atoang program nga impossible kay siya buhatun in the cities, but as long as naay political will ang atoang local chief executives and barangay officials, naay klaro nga program para sa surrenderers, naay klarong monitoring mechanism, mabuhat gyud siya,” Alcantara said.

(Many have said that our program is impossible to implement in the cities, but as long as there is political will of our local chief executives and barangay officials, there is a clear program for surrenderers, and there is a clear monitoring mechanism, then it can be done.)

PDEA-7 on ROCBDC

Alcantara again reiterated that drug-cleared barangays were those barangays that had reported and validated the presence of drug personalities such as pushers, drug den maintainers, users, protectors, and others involved in illegal drug activity.

Drug-free barangays are those unaffected barangays, barangays that have never been plagued with drug personalities, that have been vetted and confirmed by the ROCBDC.

Regardless of the status given, Alcantara clarified that these were not absolute and could be reverted once local officials would no longer sustain their measures.

Before the ROCBDC was created last 2017, Alcantara said that there were already previous regulations or guidelines on barangay drug clearing. 

However, there was no overall committee, and that the respective chiefs of police and mayors, can already declare drug-cleared barangays then. 

But declaring barangays as drug-cleared then was not implemented because the local chief executives and the chiefs of police would have difficulty implementing the program, she said.

But Alcantara said with the creation of the committee last 2017, the job in clearing barangays was no longer limited to the local government unit level only.

She said that was the reason PDEA-7, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Health (DOH), the local government unit, and the local police had worked together through the committee to help in the process of the drug-clearing in barangays.

58 new drug-cleared brgys in CV

Alcantara also said that this year, they had declared 58 drug-cleared barangays in Central Visayas.

This September 2021, Alcantara said that they were targeting 1,875 barangays regionwide to become drug-cleared barangays.

She, however, said that they had no clear timeline for this to be realized because the process would take time.

Before a barangay can apply for the clearing program, they have to ensure first that all their listed drug personalities have undergone and graduated the intervention programs provided.

She said that normally, this would take about six months to a year to implement.

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