NOT A single member of the Police Regional Office–Cordillera (PRO-Cor) tested positive for illegal drugs.
This was reiterated by PRO-Cor regional director Chief Superintendent Elmo Francis Sarona during a Philippine National Police celebration in Camp Bado Dangwa, while reiterating gratitude to all stakeholders who contributed to the success of the war against drugs in the region.
“We continue to deploy more uniformed police personnel who are now visible in the streets and the campaign against crime and lawlessness will remain to gain ground. We will not stop to go after those criminals in all rural and urban areas of our region to determine the presence of illegal drugs, and arrest the purveyors to ensure peace and order in the community,” Sarona said.
Sarona said during their campaign against criminality, through the continuous implementation of enhanced police operations as validated in the monthly Lambat-Sibat assessment, there were 67, 410 individuals arrested.
During the period, 156 firearms and 20 other deadly weapons were confiscated from their operations.
Among these 1,516 wanted persons were arrested, nine were Top Most Wanted Persons in the Regional Level, 40 in the City/Provincial Level and 132 in the Municipal/Station Level.
Moreover, in the internal security operations and counter terrorism, together with the Philippine Air Force, have conducted patrol that resulted in the arrest of seven individuals and the surrender of 111 New People’s Army members.
Among the accomplishments at the start of the campaign Double Barrel, PROCOR identified 379 drug personalities and categorized only 184 barangays as drug affected out of the 1177 barangays in the entire Cordillera Region.
But with the success of the campaign, the figure has skyrocketed to more than 21,000 drug personalities or about 5,400 percent.
And with collaboration with the different LGUs, line government agencies, non-government organization, civil society, concerned government agencies, religious sectors have gained significantly in the war against illegal drugs.
Recently, PRO-COR has declared Abra, Ifugao, Kalinga, Apayao and Mt. Province as drug free.
In Baguio City there are still 19 barangays that are not yet cleared while in Benguet, there are three villages, which need to be cleared for illegal drugs and marijuana.
“Our effort was very intensive in marijuana eradication, so much that we engaged in marijuana community. To make sure they will turn their backs on the production of marijuana, provided that the government should deliver the basic services they need,” Sarona said.
PRO-COR also noted a 33.90 percent decrease of crime incidents from the 19, 612 in 2015 to 12, 964 in 2016, which is 31.18 percent decrease in the average monthly crime rate.