BAGUIO CITY – Some one hundred sixty two drug pushers and drug users in the different barangays in the city voluntarily surrendered to barangay and police officials over the past several weeks following the unrelenting and uncompromising campaign of the Duterte administration against drug personalities in the country.
Senior Superintendent George D. Daskeo, City Director of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO), said that of the number of drug suspects who already surrendered to authorities, 6 are said to be drug pushers while 156 individuals are said to be drug users.
“We have given the drug personalities the ultimatum and we will now aggressively to go after them in order to reduce or even rid the city of drug personalities,” Daskeo stressed.
The BCPO official revealed that those who surrendered before the ultimatum last Thursday wilfully signed promissory notes declaring that they will no longer be involved in the trade and use of illegal drugs and that they are willing to reform themselves to become productive residents of the city.
For those who were not able to surrender to authorities and have given themselves up later, Daskeo claimed they will be required to undergo drug tests and if the results will turnout to be positive, then they will be charged for violation of the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Law, particularly Section 15 which pertains to illegal drug use.
According to him, he also given himself a self-imposed deadline to rid the city of the proliferation of illegal drugs and the rising number of drug personalities that is why appropriate coordination is done with the barangay officials for the identification of drug personalities in their respective areas of jurisdiction for the conduct of the appropriate operations against them.
Since June 3, 2016, Daskeo disclosed combined police operatives and anti-narcotics agents were able to arrest some 21 drug pushers and users during the conduct of various operations as part of the duties and responsibilities of police officers to maintain law and order in the city.
He said most of the drug pushers and users have already been identified through the cooperation of concerned barangay officials and that they were given the necessary warnings for them to reform themselves or else authorities will sustain the campaign against them in order to rid the city of the proliferation of illegal drugs.
The BCPO chief admitted that he already issued the appropriate directives to the different police stations around the city to intensify their anti-drug operations in their respective areas of jurisdiction as an added pressure for drug personalities to be given a chance to reform or else they will be meted the appropriate penalties for their continuous of illegal drugs that pose a serious threat to their bright future.
Dakeo issued the final appeal to drug personalities to voluntarily surrender to barangay officials and police operatives while they still have a chance to reform in order to help eradicate the proliferation of illegal drugs in the city and make the city drug free.
By Dexter A. See
