BACOLOD City – As of May this year, 90.25 percent of the 4,051 barangays in Western Visayas have been cleared of illegal drugs, data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Barangay Drug Clearing Program (BDCP) showed.
Both the 327 barangays of Aklan and the 98 barangays of Guimaras are 100 percent drug-cleared.
Antique, which has 590 barangays, is 99.66 percent drug-cleared; Iloilo province, 1,721 barangays, 98.55 percent and Capiz, 473 barangays, 91.12 percent.
Negros Occidental followed with 67.89 percent of its 601 barangays considered drug-cleared; Iloilo City, 180 barangays, 54.22 percent and Bacolod City, 61 barangays, 22.95 percent.
“The drug situation in Western Visayas is manageable as evidenced by our low drug (incidents), the fifth in the country,” according to PDEA-Negros Occidental provincial officer Jeanette Reyes during the joint second quarter meeting of the Provincial Peace and Order Council and the Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council at the Capitol Social Hall on Friday.
However, Negros Occidental’s Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson noted a “slow increase” in the number of drug-cleared barangays.
“From 65 percent to 67 percent, we have to strengthen that,” he said.
Reyes said the PDEA-Negros Occidental Provincial Office will continue to collaborate with partner agencies, particularly the local government units, to better serve the Negrenses.(PNA)/PN
