KALIBO, Aklan – The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA-Aklan) has vowed to intensify its anti-drug efforts, especially in Boracay Island.
Provincial Officer Investigation Agent V Jane Fatima Tuadles said the Philippine National Police, Department of Tourism (DOT), and PDEA inked a Memorandum of Agreement to encourage support from tourism stakeholders and improve the coordination between law enforcement agencies and DOT through Tourism Operation Against Illegal Drugs (TOP-AID).
âWe continue to monitor and collaborate with law enforcement agencies and tourism stakeholders,â Tuadles said.
PDEA personnel is assigned to tourist assistance and complaint desk for drug trafficking concerns and K-9 interdiction units are deployed in seaports for random paneling inspections of baggage and profiling of incoming and outgoing passengers.
Barangay officials are alerted to closely monitor activities of transient individuals in their area to help in the government efforts to deter the proliferation of illegal drugs in Boracay Island.
PDEA-Aklan, so far, recorded eight buy-bust operations in the province of Aklan from January to March this year. Of this figure, seven individuals including two women were arrested.
As part of sustaining drug-free facilities, PDEA also conducted Greyhound operations and random drug testing for persons deprived of liberty in Aklan District Jail on March 17. No illegal drugs and contraband were found during the âOplan Galugadâ.
The agency disclosed 107 unaffected barangays in Aklan have been declared drug-free barangays.
Of the 327 villages in Aklan, 220 have been declared drug-cleared barangays by the Regional Oversight Committee on Barangay Drug Clearing./PN
