BACOLOD City Mayor Evelio Leonardia urged all the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Badac) in the 61 villages to intensify its campaign against illegal drugs so they can be classified or to be declared free from illegal drugs.
Leonardia, who attended the Badac seminar with the Department of the Interior Local Government (DILG) in Middletown Hotel on November 7, said that there must be a continued and intensified effort in the barangays to be declared from illegal drugs.
“I encourage them (Badac) to exert more effort to be declared free from illegal drugs because as of now, only Barangay 5 has been declared free from illegal drugs by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency(PDEA)-Western Visayas,” Leonardia said.
He added that the barangays has a big role in addressing the illegal drug problem in their areas of jurisdiction.
The two-day strengthening seminar of Badac was organized by the DILG-Bacolod which was scheduled in two batches from November 27 to 28.
On the first batch, the seminar was attended by Badac personnel from Barangays 1to 8, 17 to 20, 23, 26, 27, 31, 33, 40, Pahanocoy, Singcang-airport, Tangub, Cabug, Punta Taytay, Sum-ag, Felisa, Handumanan and Alijis.
The second batch will be attended by Badac personnel from Barangays 9 to 16, 21 to 25, 29, 30, 32, 34 to 39, 41, Banago Bata, Mandalagan, Taculing, Vista Alegre, Granada, Montevista and Villamonte.
The mayor said that aside from Barangay 5, there are also 10 other barangays that are candidates to be declared free from illegal drugs.
These are Barangays 4, 7, 18, 24, 41, Cabug, Granada, Alangilan, Vista Alegre and Felisa.
The mayor recalled that in the previous months, PDEA has chosen Bacolod City as one of the pilot sites of the Balay Silangan Reformation Program in the country and hosted several anti-drugs campaigns such as Rehabinasyon, the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, and Lakad-Iwas Droga, among others.
Leonardia said that Bacolod is also one of the few cities that received P10 million from the Dangerous Drugs Board for the construction of drug rehabilitation center in the city.
“So for me, plus the fact that President Rodrigo Duterte has been here very often, that means our drug situation, in that level, is slightly manageable, and we need the cooperation of everybody, especially the barangay officials and its Badac,” Leonardia said.