SAN JOSE, Antique – Libertad town in Antique has been declared “drug-cleared.”
The northernmost local government was the first in the province to receive a certificate as drug-cleared municipality.
The Regional Oversight Committee headed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency granted the status to Libertad.
“I am so proud,” Libertad mayor Mary Jean Te said after receiving the certificate from Senior Superintendent Leo Irwin Agpangan, director of the Antique Police Provincial Office.
Aside from the PDEA, the Regional Oversight Committee also comprises the Philippine National Police, the Department of Health, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Nine of the 19 barangays in Libertad were identified as “drug-affected,” said Te.
Twenty-one locals who surrendered to the authorities amid the intensified crackdown on drug users and dealers had been subject to a monthlong community-based rehabilitation, she said.
They had undergone “spiritual and psychological interventions” during the rehabilitation in the first quarter of the year, said Te.
“We also provided them livelihood assistance … like mangrove tree planting,” said the local chief executive.
A focal person from the local government is monitoring the drug surrenderers who had undergone rehabilitation to make sure they do not return to the drug trade, Te said. (PNA)
