THIS city in the north of the province hit the headlines recently due to illegal drug operations. The first major operation happened in Cebu, where all the three couriers of the substance were arrested by the authorities after a month of surveillance. The operation yielded seven kilos of shabu with a market value of more than P47 million. Reports said the couriers picked up the goods from a ship from San Carlos City to Toledo City. The items were originally from Manila and are destined to be circulated in Cebu and other areas in Central Visayas.
In a separate police operation in Sibulan, Negros Oriental, authorities killed Joemarie Yonco, also a resident of San Carlos City, who carried with him the substance worth P14 million. The suspect tried to evade arrest but was shot ahead before he could escape.
Because of the two previous operations which were traced at the city, authorities conducted monitoring of the illegal activities which brought them to arrest Emmanuel Siaboc of Barangay 6. More than two kilos were taken with a market value of nearly P14 million.
My good friend, Mayor Rene Gustilo, felt alarmed by these incidents. In his interview, he confirmed that his city had been used as the transshipment point of illegal drugs into other markets in the Visayas. He requested the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and Philippine National Police (PNP) to look into these as it creates a bad impression in terms of the campaign to eradicate illegal drugs.
These incidents are in exact opposite to how this city was pictured in terms of its peace and development efforts. It actually leads other local government units (LGUs) in the first district in terms of plans, programs and maybe leadership as the city transcends from one leader to the next. Thus, it shows development agendas were translated into the lowest levels of their society.
I understand how local officials and the people of San Carlos would feel with these recent developments. Yet, I am sure they could end up united fighting this social problem on illegal drugs.
At one point in my class, I inserted that our LGUs are hardened to fight the world of illegal drugs. We can take the examples of the local officials who are in the discharge of their functions as true civilians being the head of the civil government. It should be understood that the world of illegal drugs is something too complicated for a plain civilian official to get involved with. I agree with Mayor Gustilo that foremost this matter should be given attention by the PNP and PDEA. Remember that LGUs now are in another theatre of warfighting the coronavirus.
We already have exhausted men and women who focused their efforts to fight the Covid-19. Our police operatives are actually not spared from that big responsibility together with our local officials. The sad part in this situation is that drug dealers operating the underground business are already taking advantage of the heavy workload of both civilian officials and men-in-uniform.
In all this, there is enough reason to congratulate the authorities for these accomplishments. As in the words of Mayor Gustilo, vigilance and cooperation are important in keeping the works effective to fight illegal drugs.
Just recently, San Carlos City also inaugurated their quarantine facility as part of their control measures on the spread of Covid-19. Mayor Rene had been open to saying that they all work to achieve the present status of San Carlos related to peace and development. With the real threat of the coronavirus, they too remain committed as to where this fight will go.