TEAM TO AID IN ‘DRUG-FREE’ BID Clearing efforts in brgys not enough – Joe

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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Sunday, November 19, 2017
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ILOILO City – No barangay in the city has been declared “drug-free” yet. Mayor Jose Espinosa III is worried.

To make sure villages comply with requirements to be free from illegal drugs, Espinosa – through Executive Order (EO) No. 124 – created the Iloilo City Barangay Drug Clearing Program Assistance Team.

The Assistance Team will assess the drug-clearing initiatives of all 180 barangays in the metro.

Espinosa cited the “need to establish a team of persons…primarily tasked [to assist] barangays in the documentation and assessment” of drug-clearing operations.

“Notwithstanding serious efforts of the city government…no barangay [has] been successfully declared…a drug-free barangay/community,” read part of EO No. 124.

Apparently, according to the mayor, the Iloilo City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (ICADAC) and the city government’s Barangay Secretariat – which are supposed to “lend assistance to all barangays in the city” – are not enough.

Madamo sang barangay nga naga-claim nga they should have been declared drug-free a long time ago but, as of this time, wala pa bangod sang madamo nga requirements nga wala nila allegedly na-comply,” said City Administrator Hernando Galvez.

Galvez shall be the Assistance Team chairman and Senior Executive Assistant Rommel Castro, vice chairman.

Other functions and responsibilities of the Assistance Team are:

* assist barangays in the preparation of lacking requirements and the conduct of other required activities toward the successful declaration of their drug-free status

* coordinate with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Philippine National Police, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and other concerned government agencies and offices to seek further clarification or assistance necessary for the declaration of drug free barangays

* coordinate and recommend to the ICADAC chair the barangays which have satisfied all the requirements for the declaration of drug-free barangays that they be declared as such

* submit a status report of the progress of each barangay to the ICADAC chair inclusive of their observations and concerns

Assistance Team members shall be:

* Legal Assistant II Atty. Love Faith Hayco

* Legal Assistant II Jhanrey Gonzaga

* Legal Assistant II Rudiver D. Jungco Jr.

* Assistant Department Head Eireen A. Manikan

* Public Information Officer Lucy Sinay

* Sports and Games Registration Officer II Ray Jason Gregorio

President Rodrigo Duterte had repeatedly identified Iloilo as the “most shabulized” and a “bedrock of drugs” in the Philippines but was not particularly clear if he was referring to the province or the city.

But in August, the President said the illegal drugs in Iloilo seemed to be waning.

Ang mga mayors diyan pati barangay captains…’Di ba sinabi ko sa inyo Iloilo was the hotbed (of illegal drugs)? Ngayon medyo wala na, wala na (Now, it’s kind of waning),” he told reporters, during a private dinner at the Malago Clubhouse in Malacañang Park.

At the same time, Duterte also tagged former city mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog to the illegal drug trade in numerous public speeches, warning the latter to stop his supposed engagement in the illicit activity or face consequences.

“The mayor of Iloilo City, I identified him. This was broadcast. I said, ‘You are next. You’re next,” the President said on Oct. 25.

The following day, news broke out that the Office of the Ombudsman dismissed Mabilog from the service after finding him guilty of serious dishonesty./PN
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