By EUGENE ADIONG
TALISAY City — Police in Negros Occidental vowed to continue their campaign against the perennial problem of illegal drugs in the province.
Senior Supt. Milko Lirazan, director of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, agrees with Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. that society’s biggest problem now is the proliferation of illegal drugs.
“In the Philippines, 70 percent of crimes are related to drugs — either the suspects or the victims use drugs,” Lirazan yesterday said.
He said this is particularly true in Negros Occidental.
Worse, even government officials and law enforcers themselves have been linked to the illegal drug trade, he said.
Several government officials in Negros Occidental have long been tagged as protectors of illegal drugs and illegal gambling, but their links are yet to be proven, the police provincial director said.
Lirazan said his office has been receiving reports regarding such public officials. However, “we are still verifying these reports to get solid evidence,” he stressed.
Still, the provincial police will remain persistent in its anti-illegal drug campaign, he said.
Lirazan also supports Marañon’s challenge that all officials in the province should undergo a drug test.
He assured that “all police officers in the province will undergo drug tests” once budget is available.
Meanwhile, Lirazan could not confirm reports that some Bingo Milyonaryo outlets are fronts for illegal gambling.
“What I know is that some local government units are against BM (Bingo Milyonaryo) operations,” he said.
In Bingo Milyonaryo, bets come from a machine and are not just written in a piece of paper, Lirazan said./PN
