ILOILO City – Twenty-six more villages in Western Visayas have been cleared of illegal drugs.
During a deliberation yesterday at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources regional office here, the Western Visayas Regional Oversight Committee on Dangerous Drugs approved the application for a drug-free status of over half of the 50 applicant-villages from the provinces of Iloilo, Aklan, Negros Occidental, and Capiz.
Iloilo had the highest number of applicants at 19 (16 were drug-cleared).
Capiz had 10 applicant-villages (six were cleared) while Aklan had four applicant-villages (one was cleared).
Negros Occidental had 17 applicant-villages. Only three were cleared.
According to Shey Tanaleon, spokesperson of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 6, Negros Occidental had only three drug-cleared villages because some barangay officials and police personnel failed to attend the deliberation; they were on quarantine.
“We hope that in our next deliberation, more villages will be cleared,” Tanaleon said.
The Oversight Committee consists of PDEA being the head, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of Health (DOH), and local government units.
As of this writing, the number of drug-cleared villages in Western Visayas reached 3,358 out of 4,051 total villages.
Of the total drug-free villages in the region, 1,640 were from Iloilo province.
Tanaleon said PDEA will continue to monitor the drug-cleared barangays. They could lose their drug-free status if barangay officials become lax in implementing antidrug programs.
Before declaring a barangay free from illegal drug activities, the committee must validate the non-availability of illegal drugs in the area and the absence of drug transit activities, clandestine drug laboratories, and chemical warehouses, marijuana cultivation sites, drug dens, drug pushers, and users.
Barangays must also complete their community-based rehabilitation program as well as the enrollment of their drug pusher-surrenderers in the Balay Silangan drug reformation facilities./PN
