CPPO: Only 18 brgys are actually unaffected by drugs

DESPITE having declared 245 barangays in Cebu Province as ‘drug cleared,’ Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) said only 18 villages in the province are actually ‘unaffected’ by drugs.

Chief Insp. Florendo Fajardo, officer-in-charge of the Provincial Operations and Plans Branch, said that based on the reports received for 2018, the villages “unaffected” by drugs are mostly situated in the hinterlands of southern Cebu.

Fajardo bared this during his meeting with the Anti-Drug Abuse officers of local government units (LGUs) during the LGU Anti-Drug Abuse Council (ADAC) Partners Conference in Cebu City yesterday, December 19.

“Mao na siya ang gi-submit sa atong stations. Drug cleared status is different [from unaffected] because it means that the villages have complied with the requirements set or parameters for it to be declared as drug cleared,” Fajardo said in a separate interview.

Unaffected by drugs, Fajardo added, means that there is neither a drug pusher nor user living in the village.

Fajardo also said that the CPPO confiscated the biggest bulk of illegal drugs, including marijuana, in Talisay City this year.

CPPO’s 340 operations in the city led to the arrest of at least 469 persons and confiscation of P21 million worth of illegal drugs from January to December 2018.

Fajardo also revealed that drug peddlers, particularly level two pushers, had moved their operations and residences due to the heightened crackdown on illegal drugs.

“This is evident in our last operation in [Jaclupan] Talisay City where we found out that the suspects, who were killed in the operation, were originally from Barangay Duljo-Fatima in Cebu City,” Fajardo said.

He was referring to brothers Rodrigo and Victor Noel Alvarez who allegedly resisted arrest and fired shots at the police. The operation yielded 8 kilos of suspected shabu.

Border security
Meanwhile, Fajardo confirmed that they have already started talks with other government agencies to strengthen border security and control.
“We observed during our recent meeting that because of the laxity of our port security, no matter how much drugs PDEA and police operatives haul, the supply
remains high because maybe it is at the ports that the supply comes in,” he said.
The private-owned ports, Fajardo said, may also be a factor since his men cannot easily enter the ports and inspect.
Fajardo said they are looking at partnering with agencies like the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Bureau of Customs to help them monitor the ports.