ILOILO City – A total of 3,332 villages in Western Visayas have been declared as drug-cleared, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) reported. This is 82.25 percent of the region’s 4,051 barangays.
During the March 22 deliberation of the Western Visayas Regional Oversight Committee on Dangerous Drugs, 51 barangays were approved for declaration as drug-cleared.
“Local government units, especially barangays, fully support the anti-drug campaign. Many barangays are submitting applications for drug-clearing operations,” said Shey Tanaleon, spokesperson of PDEA Region 6.
The cleared barangays on March 22 came from Aklan and Bacolod City (one each), Capiz (15), Guimaras (two), Iloilo (19), and Negros Occidental (13).
“PDEA will continue to closely collaborate with concerned stakeholders to increase the number of cleared barangays through the proper implementation of Dangerous Drugs Board Regulation No. 3, series of 2017 and the Omnibus Procedures in Declaring a Drug-Affected Barangay as Drug-Cleared,” Tanaleon added.
Data provided by PDEA, which sits as chair of the oversight committee, showed Antique with the highest percentage of barangays cleared – 99.32 percent or 586 out of its 590 villages.
Aklan has 98.77 percent of its 327 barangays cleared; Iloilo province, 94.42 percent of its 1,721 villages; Guimaras, 92.86 percent of its 98 villages; and Capiz, 76.53 percent of its 473 barangays.
Less than 50 percent of the barangays in Iloilo City, Negros Occidental, and Bacolod City were declared as drug-cleared.
Data showed that 47.77 percent of the 180 barangays of Iloilo City have been declared drug-cleared; 40.93 percent of Negros Occidental’s 601 barangays; and 21.31 percent of the 61 barangays of Bacolod City.
Tanaleon said local government units where fewer barangays were declared free from illegal drugs have yet to complete their community-based rehabilitation program as well as enroll their drug pusher-surrenderers in the Balay Silangan Reformation Facility.
PDEA is joined in the oversight committee by the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Health, and the Philippine National Police. (PNA/PN)
