BAGUIO CITY – Some 299 drug personalities were arrested by combined police operatives and intelligence agents in the city during the intensified anti-drug operations by the operatives of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) from January 1 to October 10, 2017.
Senior Superintendent Ramil L. Saculles, BCPO City Director, revealed that of the accounted and arrested drug personalities 241 were said to be drug pushers and 58 are drug users.
Further, he noted there were some 2,383 drug personalities who surrendered to the combined police operatives and intelligence agents during the implementation of Oplan Tokhang in the different parts of the city.
During the reckoning period, BCPO operatives were able to seize and confiscate prohibited drugs amounting to P2,864,729.
Based on the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (BADAC), Philippine National Police (PNP), and the President’s list provided by the national headquarters, Saculles claimed there are 120 drug personalities in the city which were identified as either a high value target or a street level target.
According to him, law enforcers remained vigilant for the expected resurgence of illegal drug activities by the existing drug personalities, but to date records show only one remaining high value target remain unaccounted in the city.
However, he explained the listed high value target is no longer a resident of the city, with negative monitored illegal drug activity.
The BCPO official admitted that to date there are still 6 moderately affected barangays in the city, but efforts are being done in close coordination with the barangay officials for the eventual declaration of these moderately affected barangays as drug-cleared in the next several months.
Of the city’s 128 barangays, 122 barangays were declared as drug-cleared, 6 barangays were moderately affected, while 4 barangays were unaffected since the government’s anti-drug campaign was launched at the start of the Duterte administration last July 2016.
With the issuance of the directive from President Rodrigo R. Duterte for the police to play an active role in the government’s anti-drug campaign and extend the utmost assistance to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to curb the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country, Saculles said that the local police force will resume the intensified anti-drug operations to help in reducing the proliferation of illegal drugs in their area of responsibility.
It can be recalled that last October 10, 2017 President Duterte ordered the PNP to take a back seat in the government’s anti-drug campaign after the law enforcement agency was confronted with various issues related to the alleged extra-judicial killings, wherein innocent individuals were reportedly caught in the crossfire of the conduct of anti-drug operations in the different parts of the country over the past several months.
However, the President was forced to order the police to help in the implementation of the anti-drug campaign after noticing that the PDEA was allegedly undermanned to address the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country.
By Dexter A. See
