TUBA, Benguet – Some one hundred one drug surrenderers from the different barangays of this town were able to graduate from the six month community-based rehabilitation program undertaken by the concerned government agencies, the local government and the Tuba Municipal Police Station.
Chief Inspector James Acod, chief of the Tuba Municipal Police Station, said that since the implementation of the government’s aggressive anti-drug campaign, there were a total of 172 drug surrenderers that were accounted from the town’s 13 barangays wherein a huge percentage of them availed of the community-based rehabilitation program provided to them by the government.
However, he noted that there were 61 drug surrenderers who were not able to complete the prescribed community-based rehabilitation program that is why they were referred to the barangays where they are residing for them to undergo the barangay-based recovery and rehabilitation program through the assistance of concerned government agencies, the local government and the local police force.
“The implementation of the government’s aggressive anti-drug campaign resulted in the significant reduction of the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Tuba Municipal Police Station that is why we are able to do various tasks that are being cascaded to us by our higher authorities,” Acod stressed.
The police official admitted that the activities of drug suspects in the different barangays have been obviously eradicated but there are some drug suspects who are not from the town who transact their illegal drug trade in some areas of the locality which eventually resulted to their arrest because of the enhanced intelligence gathering and coordination with other police units and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
According to him, the successful anti-drug campaign in the municipality could be attributed to the cooperation of the drug surrenderers who voluntarily gave themselves up to the local police force and indicated their desire to avail of available drug rehabilitation programs, the barangay officials, the municipal officials and employees and the people in the communities who provided the law enforcers with reliable information regarding the presence of drug suspects in their midst.
Acod assured the people and officialdom of the municipality that the local police force will remain steadfast in the implementation of the anti-drug campaign and other anti-criminality, peacekeeping and anti-insurgency initiatives that will sustain the reign of peace and order within its areas of jurisdiction.
He expressed his gratitude to all the stakeholders in the town for their sustained cooperation and participation in all the endeavors of the local police force that have significantly contributed in making Tuba one of the most peaceful municipalities in Benguet through the years.
Acod admitted that while there are still drug-related activities that are being monitored in the town, the same are being done by non-residents of the barangays but those who come from other places inside and outside the province.
By HENT
