SAN JOSE, Antique – Antique is one village away from achieving its goal of being cleared of illegal drugs.
“There is one barangay left to be cleared by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police,” said Antique provincial government consultant for peace and order and public security Margie Gadian.
Without naming the last barangay out of the 590 villages, she said the provincial government is hopeful that Antique will be declared as a drug-cleared province before the year ends.
The province has allocated P1 million for the anti-illegal drugs campaign .
“For this year, we were able to conduct drug testing among the 800 employees of the provincial government of whom none of them turned out positive,” said Gadian.
The drug-testing aimed to ensure that their workplace was drug-free.
The provincial government also administered drug tests to about 200 Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs) at Antique’s Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).
In addition to drug testing, a Bahay Silangan has been established in the municipality of Hamtic in 2020 but has yet to accept clients because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“So far as I know no one had yet been admitted at the Bahay Silangan until now,” she said.
Gadian said so far, the anti-illegal drugs campaign has reduced its proliferation in the province. (PNA)
