Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency- Davao (PDEA-Davao) declared 11 barangays in Davao del Norte as ‘drug-cleared’ on July 19.
PDEA, in a post on their Facebook page on July 19, said there are four barangays in the Island Garden City of Samal that have been cleared from illegal drugs – Barangay Cogon, Dadatan, Sta. Cruz, and Linosutan in the Kaputian District.
Another four barangays in the Municipality of Sto. Tomas – Bobongon, Kimamon, Casig-ang and New Katipunan while two barangays in Panabo City – San Nicolas and Upper Licanan. Tagum City has one ‘drug-cleared’ barangay in Liboganon.
According to PDEA-Davao, these barangays were able to comply and submit all the requirements asked by the Regional Oversight Committee on Barangay Drug Clearing Program (ROCBDC) and after a deliberation conducted by the panel of ROCBDC including the Police Regional Office (PRO-Davao), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), PDEA and the Department of Health-Davao (DOH).
PDEA Regional Director Aileen T. Lovitos said one of the bases to be declared as a drug-cleared barangay is it should be cleared of any supply of illegal drugs.
“And, of course, kinahanglan pud nga naa tay community-based rehabilitations and ubay-ubay pud nga requirements nga naa sa DBB (Dangerous Drugs Board) regulation (Of course, there should be a community-based rehabilitations and other requirements that should be submitted to the DBB),” Lovitos said in an interview with the One DavNor Network.
Recently, PDEA said a total of 867 barangays have already been declared "drug-cleared."
“Furthermore, also deliberated the retention of the drug-free status of 15 Brgys and conferred/retention of the drug-cleared status of 24 barangays all from Davao Region [sic],” PDEA said on their Facebook page. KSD