TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Mayor Darwin C. Estran͂ero lauded the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for their unrelenting and uncompromising anti-drug campaign that paved the way for the city to achieve the most number of drug enforcement operations in the Cordillera.
The city chief executive claimed that the city is only a transshipment point of illegal drugs based on the results of the anti-drug operations conducted by combined police operatives and anti-narcotics agents as law enforcers continue to conduct aggressive anti-drug operations that frequently yield positive results in terms of arrests and confiscated illegal drugs.
“We are closely working with concerned authorities to curb the use and shipment of illegal drugs in the city because we do not want the bright future of our youth to be compromised and ruined by illegal drugs. We want our city to be cleared of the presence of illegal drugs through consistent operations to send a clear message that Tabuken͂os are against illegal drugs,” Mayor Estran͂ero stressed.
He claimed that Tabuk is strategically located within the central Cordillera that is why it is the favorite transshipment area of marijuana being produced in upper Kalinga and shabu coming from the nearby areas of the Cagayan Valley which require consistent anti-illegal drug operations to neutralize these traffic and prevent the presence of illegal drugs not only in the city but also in other parts of the province.
The mayor urged law enforcers to sustain their anti-illegal drug operations until the city is cleared of the presence of illegal drug pushers and users towards lasting peace and safer communities.
According to him, the intelligence community is gathering vital information related to the illegal drug trade in the city which shows that the city has recorded the highest number of drug enforcement operations resulting to the arrest of numerous drug users and pushers and confiscation of millions worth of illegal drugs like marijuana and shabu.
“Illegal drugs have no place in our city that is why we continue to fully support the aggressive anti-illegal drug operations of our law enforcers. We will not allow illegal drugs to ruin the bright future of our youth,” Mayor Estran͂ero said.
Earlier, Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin ‘Benhur’ Abalos, Jr. visited the province to cascade the agency’s Buhay ay Ingatan, Droga ay Ayawan (BDIA) program that focuses on the containment of illegal drugs in various communities around the country considering the noted production of marijuana in some parts of upper Kalinga.
Tabuk is the component city of Kalinga that is rapidly growing into an urban center with the influx of investors wanting to conduct business in strategic areas in the Cordillera and Cagayan Valley regions.
He assured the PNP and PDEA of the city government’s all-out support to the intensified anti-illegal drug operations being waged against drug suspects to ensure that the city is spared from the negative effects of the proliferation of illegal drugs. By Dexter A. See