ANGELES City mayor-elect Carmelo "Pogi" Lazatin said he will ask the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), under the leadership of former Central Luzon police director Aaron Aquino, to put up a satellite office in Angeles.
Lazatin said the presence of PDEA officials and operatives in the city will be of great help to his program to free Angeles from illegal drugs.
"Our problem on illegal drugs is still big. As we speak, there are several individuals being arrested. Recently PDEA confiscated P1.2 million worth of shabu and our local police arrested several personalities in Barangay Pandan during the elections," the incoming mayor said.
Lazatin said he talked to PDEA assistant secretary Irish Calaguas to establish a satellite office right at the city hall.
"This is one of our campaign promises. We want Angeles City to be free from drugs in the next three years," he added.
Crime volume in the city will decrease substantially if there are no drugs, according to the official.
Drug dependents will be sent to rehabilitation centers in nearby Magalang town and in Nueva Ecija, Lazatin said.
"We may take our constituents who need to be rehabilitated in various rehabilitation centers in Magalang and Nueva Ecija," the mayor-elect said.