BY RHENJIE MARIE CALANTAS
ILOILO City – The cities of Iloilo and Bacolod are transshipment points of illegal drugs, according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 6.
Atty. Bombad Abonado, PDEA-6 spokesperson, said the movement of the population in these cities makes a good cover for drug trafficking.
“Sa kadamuon sang mga nadakpan naton, mahambal naton nga diri [Iloilo City] usually ang sentro together with Bacolod City kay diri usually madamo tawo gasululod… Ma-renta lang wala man kita kabalo kung lehitimo ang ila operasyon business-wise or kung ano man da,” Abonado told Panay News.
He also noted that the drug traders were usually not residents.
“Lately sa operations kung makita man naton mas daku ang operations diri sa syudad sang Iloilo kag didto man sa Bacolod. Pero iban sa ila ginalapta man ang operation. Kon malantaw naton ang mga nakaladakpan, iban gahapit lang diri to do transactions,” he said.
According to Abonado, illegal drugs in the region have no single, specific source.
“International ini halin ang mga illegal drugs kag ibagsak nila somewhere dira sa mga kaingod nga parts sa Nueva Ecija. Manaog na siya then ginapa-amat-amat na nila sulod sa Dumangas Port,” he added.
As of May 31 this year, PDEA-6 had conducted 896 illegal drug operations – higher than the 645 operations conducted in the same period last year. Below is the breakdown:
* Aklan – 14
* Antique – seven
* Capiz – 41
* Guimaras – 14
* Iloilo – 107
* Iloilo City – 154
* Negros Occidental – 338
* Bacolod – 221/PN
