AT LEAST 639 villages in Eastern Visayas have been declared as drug cleared as of this week, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said on December 12.
PDEA Eastern Visayas Director Edgar Jubay said the figure is 27 percent of the 2,320 drug-affected villages in the region.
“We were asked why we require many documents to declare a village as drug cleared. We have to make sure that all standards are met, otherwise we don’t have the credibility to declare an area as drug cleared,” said Jubay.
Of the 639 drug-cleared villages, 269 are in Leyte, 229 in Eastern Samar, 68 in Southern Leyte, 41 in Samar, 18 in Northern Samar, and 14 in Biliran.
Majority of areas in Leyte province are in Tacloban City. PDEA officially certified the regional capital as drug cleared last week, the first highly-urbanized city in the Visayas to earn the distinction, according to Jubay.
Earlier, the anti-narcotics agency cleared Ormoc City, also in Leyte, from drug menace.
Jubay said they would continue to monitor these areas to ensure sustainability of anti-drugs campaign.
“If a personality will be arrested in their village, we will hold local officials accountable because they’re the one who certified that drug personalities in their areas have stopped the illicit activities,” the PDEA official said.
Jubay asked village authorities to step up the monitoring in their respective areas with the help of village watchmen and volunteers.
“The bigger responsibility lies on village officials to maintain, sustain, or even enhance their status,” he added.
While drug trade has been significantly minimized due to President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug war, PDEA said that illicit activities continue in some areas, with the involvement of some government officials, modus operandi, and use of new technology.
Modus operandi of drug traders include use of inns and hotels in illegal drugs transactions, use of some jail facilities as temporary stock and releasing areas, wrapping drugs with improvised packages, placing drugs inside drinking straws, placing under soft drink bottle, and making payments through banks and remittance centers.
Identified by PDEA in the region’s drug trafficking route are Matnog port in Sorsogon, Allen and San Isidro ports in Northern Samar, San Ricardo and Liloan ports in Southern Leyte, Ormoc City port in western Leyte, and other small public and private ports throughout Eastern Visayas.
From January to first week of December, PDEA has conducted 780 anti-drug operations that resulted in the arrest of 838 persons, including 48 government officials. (PNA)