BACOLOD City – Over 72 million worth of shabu have been seized in various operations that the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) conducted from January to Dec., 2019.
The BCPO recorded a total of 6,083 grams of confiscated shabu during the period.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Pico, BCPO spokesperson, said they have apprehended a total of 961 suspects. Of these suspects, 601 were drug pushers, 340 were drug users and 20 minors.
On 2018, the BCPO conducted 424 antidrug operations, netting 646 suspects. Of these suspects, 36 were high-value targets, 60 were street level targets and 550 were newly-identified drug personalities.
Alex Tablate, head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Western Visayas, said they will focus on Negros Occidental and Bacolod City for its antidrug effort this year.
Tablate said other provinces in the region have high performances in drug-clearing operations, which integrate all the anti-drug efforts of the government.
Apart from the drug-clearing operations, Tablate hoped they can also focus on moderately drug-affected barangay with the establishment of the Balay Silangan Reformation Center in Bacolod City this year.
Negros Occidental is 28.29-percent drug cleared while Bacolod City is 13. 12 percent cleared, based on the PDEA data.
As of its 18th deliberation, the Regional Oversight Committee cleared 170 out of the 601 barangays in Negros Occidental and eight out of the 61 villages in Bacolod City.
Meanwhile, data from the Police Regional Office 6 (Western Visayas) showed that from January to Dec. 19, 2019, the highest number of anti-drug operations was in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City.
Of the 1,849 police operations during the period, 725 were by the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOPPO) and 635 by the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO).
The operations led to the arrest of 974 drug personalities in Negros Occidental and 635 in Bacolod City.
The operations resulted in the seizure of 3,657.53 grams of shabu and 10.3653 grams of marijuana in Negros Occidental; and 6825.4485 grams of shabu and 3857.856 grams of marijuana in Bacolod City. (With a report from PNA/PN)
