EVERY time I hear reports of the police raiding marijuana plantations in some Cebu mountain barangays, I recall those times in the ‘80s when marijuana was as strange a plant to the farmers there as Red Baneberry. The police have been uprooting marijuana plants in mountain villages for years now but the practice persists mainly because it pays.
Recently, six senior high school students were arrested for smoking marijuana at the back of the Cebu City Sports Center. This has led Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) Director Manuel Javier Abrugena to state the need to eradicate the marijuana plantations and cut the supply to the cities and towns.
Among the barangays that were subject of police raids were Barangay Bayong in Balamban town and Barangay Tagbao in Cebu City. These are in Cebu’s central district, the area where the planting of marijuana flourished in the ‘80s. I remember the so-called “golden triangle” of old that encompassed barangays near the boundary of Balamban and Cebu City.
The place has changed considerably with the construction of the Cebu Transcentral Highway and the economic growth in Balamban with the operation of a ship building firm there. Balamban was one of the most economically backward towns in Cebu at that time. Since then, the Transcentral Highway and the construction of roads in the mountain barangays of Cebu City hastened the economic growth in Cebu’s central district.
That wasn’t so in the ‘80s. The mountain areas were difficult to reach, allowing insurgents to roam there and marijuana planters to do their thing. The belief, though not proven, has always been that the planting of marijuana in the Cebu’s hinterlands was part of the government’s counter-insurgency campaign.
But one thing is sure. The planting of marijuana at that time was lucrative for a number of reasons. Consider that shabu or the so-called “poor man’s cocaine” was still unheard of at that time. Marijuana was the “in” thing and thus the demand was high, jacking up its price.
Because of this, it wasn’t difficult to identify areas or farmers that planted marijuana instead of, say, the staple corn or market produce like baguio beans. There, houses made of bamboo and cogon were replaced by structures made from concrete, wood and corrugated iron sheets. Ears of corn piled in storage huts were replaced by piles of marijuana leaves.
It reached a point where marijuana planters were already able to arm themselves, setting aside part of their earning to buy guns. Those engaged in the trade established an extensive network from source to the buyers and used creative ways to camouflage the transport of the leaves.
Which brings me to an interesting point. Mere uprooting of marijuana plants and burning them won’t work. More often than not, the planters don’t get arrested during those raids. Besides, it is difficult to pinpoint where these plantations are because these are usually well-hidden.
The most effective though painstaking is extensive intelligence work to identify and destroy the marijuana trade network from the source to the buyers. Unfortunately, the police lack personnel and have no patience to do that.