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[av_heading heading=’ ‘THEY’RE HIDING’ 38 drug suspects vanish ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO City – What should policemen do if they could no longer find their target drug personalities?
Easy. Remove these drug personalities from the drug watch list, according to Senior Superintendent Remus Zacharias Canieso, city police director.
On July 26, Canieso asked the Iloilo City Anti-Illegal Drug Abuse Council (ICADAC) to pass a resolution recommending to the Philippine National Police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) the removal of these “cannot be located” drug personalities from the drug watch list.
ICADAC, during a meeting yesterday at city hall, agreed with Canieso and passed such resolution.
Canieso also requested the anti-illegal drug abuse councils of the barangays where these personalities resided to issue certifications that they could no longer be found.
In the ongoing campaign to clear barangays of illegal drugs, one of the factors being considered is the presence of drug personalities (pushers or users).
Of these 38 vanishing drug personalities, 19 were considered high-value targets (HVTs) while 19 were street-value targets (SVTs).
“Since March when Oplan Double Barrel was relaunched, these personalities vanished from the city and could no longer be found. We requested ICADAC for a resolution to downgrade these drug personalities and move them to ‘suspense file’ status,” said Canieso.
Police believed the suspects went into hiding or have left the city to avoid arrest or worse, being killed in antidrug operations.
These drug personalities were in the following districts:
* City Proper – 12
* La Paz – 5
* Jaro – 7
* Molo – 9
* Mandurriao – 4
* Arevalo – 2
Canieso, however, clarified that should there be new information on these personalities’ whereabouts, the police would act accordingly.
Removing “cannot be located” drug personalities from the watch list is also practiced in other regions, he said.
Suspected drug lord Richard Prevendido, however, won’t be removed from the watch list, stressed Canieso.
Prevendido has been upgraded to “national target” status, he explained.
Prevendido was last spotted in Sitio Solong, Barangay San Juan, Sibalom, Antique in June. He disguised himself as an Ati, said Sibalom acting police chief, Inspector Clark Philip Dinco.
General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, Philippine National Police director, ordered the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) to arrest Prevendido at all costs.
During his Iloilo visit on June 23, however, Dela Rosa did not give the regional police office a deadline.
The previous PRO-6 director, Chief Superintendent Jose Gentiles, gave his men until Dec. 31, 2016 to arrest Prevendido but they all failed.
Dela Rosa instructed the PRO-6 to coordinate with the community to get more information on the fugitive.
Meanwhile, the deadline for this city’s barangays to comply with the requirements to be declared drug-free has been moved to September.
“During consultations, barangay officials said they found it difficult to meet the requirements this month,” said Atty. Gil Pabilona, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Region 6.
The barangays were initially given until July 11 but as of July 31, only two were able to submit the needed documents – Barangay Santo Domingo, Arevalo and Barangay Pali, Mandurriao – on the following criteria: non-availability of illegal drugs, absence of illegal drug transshipment activity, absence of clandestine illegal drug laboratory, absence of clandestine illegal drug warehouse, absence of clandestine illegal chemical warehouse, absence of marijuana cultivation site, absence of drug den, absence of drug pushers, absence of drug users/dependents, and absence of protectors/coddlers and financiers.
“We have to validate (the documents such as those on) drug personalities, whether they have undergone screening, rehabilitation or aftercare,” said Pabilona.
The rehabilitation of identified drug personalities is another crucial requirement in declaring a barangay drug-cleared.
Some barangays said this was one thing they found difficult to do because some identified drug personalities refused rehabilitation, said Pabilona./PN
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