OVER P26 million worth of marijuana plants were destroyed jointly by the Police Regional Office Cordillera (PROCOR) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Tinglayan, Kalinga recently.

Joint personnel of Tinglayan Municipal Police Station (MPS), Kalinga Provincial Manuever Force Company (KPMFC), Lubuagan MPS, Kalinga Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU-KPPO), PDEA-Cordillera and PDEA-Region 2 jointly implemented the anti-illegal drugs campaign plan, Project: “Double Barrel Oplan Balitok”, in Barangay Buscalan in the municipality of Tinglayan, Kalinga.

Authorities destroyed 84,840 pieces of fully grown marijuana plants and 80 kilograms of dried stalks worth P26.568 million during the one-day simultaneous operations in 11 marijuana plantation sites with a total land area of 10,180 square meters in Barangay Buscalan last week.

Chief Superintendent Rolando Nana, PRO-COR regional director, said “Oplan Balitok” was created to clear all drug-affected barangays in Kalinga, particularly Barangay Buscalan.

Throughout the operation, Nana said authorities exerted efforts to find the owner or cultivator of the said marijuana plantation but no one was sighted in the area.

However, the government troops are continuously monitoring the area for the possible arrest of cultivators and to prevent growers to plant again.

“We will not be exhausted on our operations on illegal drugs and we will continue to widen our sources in order to identify marijuana plantation sites and also the people behind these illegal operations,” Nana said.

Nana added the cooperation of the municipal and barangay officials of Tinglayan and the active participation of the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Badac) has contributed in the successful eradication of the plantations.