TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)- Kalinga presented the drug situation of the province during the third quarter meeting during the joint Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC), Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council (PADAC), and the Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (PTF-ELCAC) held on Aug.22 at the conference hall of the Provincial Capitol.
PDEA’s Melanie Gorospe’s reported on the drug clearing updates from 2017 to 2023 stating that 107 Kalinga barangays are drug cleared (DC) for the current year, 7 are drug impacted (DA), and 39 are drug free (DF).
Of the 153 Kalinga barangays, 70% are DC, 25% are DF, and the remaining 5% is DA, she said.
In Tabuk City, 38 barangays are DC, 1 DF and 3 DA (Lacnog East, Laya East and Nambaran).
In relation to drug operations against marijuana, Gorospe said that 19 operations were carried out, which resulted in the capture of 18 drug dealers and the destruction of 33 marijuana plantation locations.
The substance that is most frequently recovered in Kalinga is marijuana, which can be purchased for P35,000.00 to P45,000.00 per bulk or P7,500.00 to P10,000.00 per kilo
Direct purchases of marijuana from the plantation site, hotel transactions, and the use of public utility vehicles to carry drugs are a few of the methods used by drug traffickers.
The PDEA claims that Kalinga is a source of marijuana in the Cordillera region, but with ongoing operations to eradicate marijuana, the installation of roadblocks, and the efforts of the community, barangay authorities, and other law enforcement agencies, several forms of marijuana transport were interrupted.