NEGROS Island Region (NIR) is the third-most drug affected region in the Philippines.
This was declared by President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday during his meeting with the mayors from all over the country in Malacañang, said Victorias City Mayor Frederick Francis Palanca, president of Association of Chief Executives (ACE) in Negros.
Mayors coming from the Visayas, Mindanao, and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao met the President at 2 p.m. while mayors from Luzon and National Capital Region met him two hours later, at 4 p.m.
Thirty of the 32 mayors in Negros Occidental, including Bacolod City, attended the gathering.
Only Mayors Cicero Borromeo of Candoni and Enrique Montilla III of Isabela missed the meeting due to medical reasons, Palanca said.
During the meeting, Duterte revealed the regions in the country with the most number of drug-affected barangays.
Topping the list is National Capital Region followed by Central Luzon.
Palanca said NIR came in third with 90 percent of its barangays affected by illegal drugs.
He said the President reiterated his call to the local chief executives to help the administration’s campaign against drugs.
“He told us to do our jobs and he will back us up. Otherwise, he will run after us,” Palanca said.
Palanca said Duterte did not tag any official from the NIR in the illegal drug trade.
"Very thick" list
Silay Mayor Mark Golez said Duterte showed them a “very thick” drug list, which includes governors, mayors, barangay captains, and kagawads involved in illegal drug activities.
It’s about one ream of bond paper, the mayor said.
He said that Duterte mentioned two mayors in the country who are engaged in illegal drugs.
Golez also said that the President warned the mayors who are into drugs to stop their illegal activities. Otherwise, they should resign from their posts.
Negros Island has 1,219 barangays, including 601 in Negros Occidental, 557 in Negros Oriental, and 61 in Bacolod City.
As of September 30 last year, the Police Regional Office (PRO)-NIR reported that 1,107, or 90.08 percent of the barangays in NIR are drug-affected.
The report also showed that 100 percent of the barangays in Bacolod City and in Negros Oriental are affected by drugs while 81.36 percent, or 489, of the villages in Negros Occidental are affected.
But as of December 2016, PRO-18 records showed that 31 barangays in Negros Occidental and 24 in Negros Oriental are already cleared from illegal drugs.
Drug campaign on
Senior Superintendent Flynn Dongbo, acting director of Bacolod City Police Office, confirmed on Wednesday that all 61 barangays in the city are still affected by illegal drugs.
He said that measures are being implemented to clear the city’s barangays from drugs, including the ongoing profiling of drug surrenderers who will undergo a community rehabilitation program.
Dongbo said the profiling is expected to be completed within the month.
He added that the list will include 500 moderate drug users – 50 from each of the 10 police stations.
They will undergo an outpatient drug rehabilitation program in an assigned barangay hall or school, Dongbo said.
He said this will be the first batch of drug surrenderers in the city who will undergo rehabilitation.
Dongbo said the rehabilitation of drug users is one of the parameters to clear a barangay from illegal drugs.
He added that the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council will recommend to the chief of police that their barangay is free from drugs, then it will be forwarded to the City Anti-Drug Abuse Council, which will declare that the barangay is cleared from drugs.