BAGUIO CITY – Seventy-seven out of the reported seventy-nine drug personalities in the region had been accounted for by the combined police operatives and anti-narcotics agents tasked by the Cordillera office of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) to validate the presence of drug suspects in their areas of jurisdiction.
Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan, who also chairs the RPOC-CAR, said he received a directive from the Office of the President to submit a report on the status of the 79 identified drug personalities in the region as part of the government’s aggressive anti-drug campaign to curb the use and trade in illegal drugs in the country.
He reported that 77 drug personalities had already been accounted for by the concerned law enforcement agencies because they reportedly surrendered to authorities during the early stages of the government’s anti-drug campaign while the 2 personalities remain unaccounted for and are now the subject of intensified intelligence operations.
Of the 77 accounted drug personalities, 4 drug suspects have been traced to be from Baguio while there is a municipal mayor that was included in the said list.
Domogan claimed of the 4 drug personalities who are said to be from the city, three are reportedly barangay kagawad who earlier surrendered to authorities while one is a member of the bench who is still being located.
Domogan said the 3 barangay kagawad who were linked to drugs will again be invited to explain their side on the matter before he will submit his detailed report to the Office of the President.
What is important, according to him, is that there are no drug lords reported in the region and the city and drug pushers were the ones that were found to have been pursuing the peddling of prohibited drugs supplied by drug lords operating in Central Luzon and Metro Manila.
He added one of the problems faced by the law enforcers and anti-narcotics agents is recidivism among drug surrenderers who have gone back to their business of selling drugs, and that they just gave themselves up to the authorities for the sake of heeding the call for them to give up or else face the serious consequences of their illegal activities.
He emphasized it is a challenge for law enforcers to come out with innovative programs to compel the drug pushers and users to reform and be brought back to mainstream society and not to be despised by the community residents.
He opined the government’s aggressive anti-drug campaign significantly reduced the commission of crimes all over the country contributing to a degree of peace as law and order contribute to the improvement of economic activities in both urban and rural areas in the country.
He appealed to local residents to report to barangay and police officials suspicious-looking individuals in their neighbourhood to subject them to validation on their activities which may compromise the peace and order in the area.
By Dexter A. See
