Leia Alcantara, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas spokesperson, says that the drug-affected barangays in Central Visayas had went down to 48 percent of the region as compared to 2016 where it was 90 percent of the region then. | Pegeen Maisie Sararaña
CEBU CITY, Philippines — An official from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) said that only 48 percent of the barangays in the region had remained drug-affected.
Leia Alcantara, PDEA-7 spokesperson, said this was a significant drop from their 2016 data, which showed that illegal drugs affected 96 to 97 percent of the barangays here.
“More than half. Although dako-dako gihapon but if icompare nato, dako gyud ang improvement. Dako nga contribution ang support sa LGU and chief executives…and over the years, nakita nila ang effectiveness,” Alcantara said.
(It was more than half (then). Although it (the figure) is still large but if we compare it to the previous one, it is a big improvement. The support of the LGUs and chief executives are a big contribution…and over the years, they saw its effectiveness.)
Alcantara said the growing number of drug-cleared and drug-free barangays was proof of the massive improvement of the drug situation in the region.
PDEA-7, together with other law enforcement agencies, have been intensifying their campaign against drug supply and demand.
To date, of the 3,003 barangays here, 1,444 were already given drug-cleared status while 116 are now considered as drug-free.
Most of the drug-cleared barangays totalling to 610 come from Bohol province which also has 17 drug-free barangays. Bohol has 1,109 barangays.
In Cebu province, a total of 541 barangays were now considered drug-cleared together with 18 drug-free barangays. Cebu province has 1,066 barangays.
Negros Oriental, that is composed of 557 barangays, now has 157 drug-cleared and 53 drug-free barangays. For Siquijor, of their 134 barangays, 107 are drug-cleared and the remaining areas are considered as drug-free.
However, despite having these statuses, monitoring and validation of illegal drug activities in these areas continue. The Regional Oversight Committee on Barangay Drug Clearing, composed of several law enforcement agencies, will do the validation yearly.
So far, Alcantara said that these villages had maintained their statuses.
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