IN A bid to stop illegal marijuana production, Benguet residents are asked to report to authorities the cultivation of illegal weeds within their areas of jurisdiction.
Sablan Mayor Manuel Munar Jr. said the recent discovery of marijuana cultivation in their municipality is the first, adding that for the past two years, the town has been declared drug-free.
Munar said the people who cultivated the illegal marijuana are not from Sablan as reported.
"We advise barangay officials, tanods, and residents of Sablan to be alert kung may makikita na plantations, we immediately report to our personnel of PNP Sablan," Munar said.
Julius Paderes, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Benguet provincial officer, earlier solicited the aid of all stakeholders to solve the problem on illegal marijuana cultivation in the province, saying it does not have a good effect to all.
"Ad-adu ti kailyan tayu nga kayat mapasardeng daytoy illegal nga aramid ta, maymayat nu iti probinsiya tayo ket maclear ti drug problem (Majority of residents in the province want to stop of marijuana cultivation in the province. It is better for us if the illegal drug trade is stopped)," Paderes said.
"Kadagiti kailyan tayu ti probinsiya ti Benguet, kayat ko man dawaten ti tulong u nu ada man ti nabati nga plantation within our area, maireport kuma kadatayu ta amu tayu met nga awan iti maited na nga nasiyaat ti panagmula (To our province mates, I would like to seek your help in pointing to us the remaining marijuana plantation in your areas because there is no good thing in cultivating marijuana)," Paderes added.
In the province, recent marijuana eradication was conducted in Kapangan, Benguet on February 26 with 1,000 fully grown marijuana plants uprooted at a 100-square-meter area with a Dangerous Drug Board value of P200,000 in Sagubo, Kapangan.
On February 17, some 2,750 fully-grown marijuana plants with a value of P550,000 in Benguet capital town of La Trinidad and marijuana plants worth P2,380,000 in Sablan were destroyed.
Paderes also noted the need to reassess the present drug situation in the province because of the recent shift in the modus of perpetrators.