THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-Western Visayas will deploy more agents in Negros Occidental by December.
PDEA-Western Visayas spokesperson David Garcia told SunStar Bacolod on Friday, October 27, they will add personnel in the province once the latest batch of agents graduate from the Pdea academy in two months.
Garcia said the number of the additional agents will depend on the number of graduates who will pass the training.
He admitted that the PDEA personnel in Negros Occidental are not sufficient, but he said it does not stop them from conducting anti-illegal drug operations after President Rodrigo Duterte directed them to solely lead such operations.
Garcia said PDEA has conducted only one operation in Negros Occidental since Duterte issued a memorandum last October 10 instructing the agency to primarily take over the supervision of anti-illegal drug operations without the Philippine National Police.
On October 20, PDEA-Western Visayas operatives raided a suspected drug den owned by Jay-r Paraiso at Barangay 27, Bacolod City.
Paraiso, with his visitors Aljune Soberano, Ali Fortun, and Raphy Debide, were arrested that resulted to a recovery of six grams of suspected "shabu" (methamphetamine hydrochloride), drug paraphernalia, and P570 in cash.