MORE than 12,000 barangays across the country have already been cleared from illegal drugs since the government started its intensified campaign against illegal drugs in 2016, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Tuesday, June 18.

Major General Ma-o Aplasca, chief of the Directorate for Operations, reported during a command conference in Camp Crame in Quezon City that as of May 31, 12,177 of the 42,045 barangays in the country have been cleared of illegal drugs.

Drug-cleared barangays are those once affected by illegal drugs but cleared due to the programs and intervention of the government.

He said the Ilocos region has the most drug-cleared villages at 1,967 followed by Eastern Visayas with 1,919 drug-cleared villages and Western Visayas with 852.

Aplasca said most illegal-drugs-affected areas were in Central Luzon, Bicol Region and Central Visayas.

Meanwhile, Aplasca said from July 2016 up to present, a total of 6,600 alleged drug personalities have been killed during the conduct of police operations.

He said of the 153,276 illegal drugs operations which were conducted, over 1.5 million drug personalities have surrendered to the police while 240,565 were arrested. (SunStar Philippines)