ILOILO – All the 73 barangays of the municipality of Lambunao have been cleared of illegal drugs, according to Sangguniang Panlalawigan member Jason Gonzales.
The former mayor of Lambunao said the regional oversight committee on illegal drugs issued a unanimous declaration to such effect on July 4 after an extensive assessment.
The committee is made up of the Department of Health (DOH), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Philippine National Police (PNP), and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Last year, the committee declared as drug-cleared only 20 Lambunao barangays.
It was only recently that the 53 remaining villages were also verified to have no illegal drug problem, too.
For a village to be considered as drug-cleared, the following parameters set in Section 6 of Dangerous Drugs Board Regulation No. 3, Series of 2017 must be met:
* no available illegal drugs
* no drug transit / transshipment activity
* no clandestine drug laboratory, drug warehouse, clandestine chemical warehouse or marijuana cultivation site
* no drug den
* no drug pusher, drug user/dependent, protector/coddler or financier
According to Gonzales, Lambunao had only 104 drug surrenderers since 2016 and they had themselves subjected to rehabilitation.
The Lambunao local government under him, said Gonzales, was supportive of the local police’s anti-drug campaign.
“Ang tanan nga operations sang pulis ginabuligan sang banwa. May funding support and may orientation sa mga surrenderers,” said Gonzales.
Lambunao is a first-class municipality in Iloilo’s 3rd District. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 73,640 people.
Lambunao is the largest municipality in Iloilo in terms of land area (407.09 square kilometers) and is 47 kilometers from Iloilo City./PN
