BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G Domogan expressed his gratitude to concerned citizens who had been directly providing him with vital information that resulted to the neutralization of suspected drug pushers and users in the different barangays of the city.
The local chief executive said the information provided by concerned citizens regarding drug pushers and users in their areas turned out to be 100 percent positive after trusted police officers validated the information.
“We are happy at the sustained cooperation of the public in the government’s anti-drug campaign and we are appealing to concerned residents to continue providing us with the information to neutralize the presence of drug pushers or drug users in their places. The drug problem in our city but also in the whole country is serious that is why we need the public to cooperate by providing us details on the presence of drug personalities in their places that will be the subject of police operations,” Domogan stressed.
Of the 1,513 drug surrenderees from the city’s 128 barangays over the past five months, he disclosed that 148 are as drug pushers while the remaining 1,365 individuals are drug users.
Of the 184 arrested individuals, he reported that 162 are pushers while 22 are drug users.
According to him, there were 30 individuals who died due to legitimate police operations and suspected rub-out by drug personalities wanting to dominate the lucrative drug trade by eliminating those who want to report their illegal activities to law enforcers. Of the said number of deaths, 26 are so-called deaths under investigation while 4 alleged drug pushers were killed due to legitimate police operations.
Further, 24 of the 26 deaths under investigation are drug pushers while 2 individuals are described as drug users.
Domogan underscored over 100 policemen out of the over 600 members of the local police force are tasked to concentrate on the government’s anti-drug campaign, thus, the bulk of the police force is being taken away from their regular functions to the campaign that impact greatly on the city’s peace and order.
He emphasized the use of illegal drugs is really one of the serious problems of the city that must be addressed decisively by law enforcers through the full cooperation of the residents.
Domogan claimed he is open to receiving confidential information even from anonymous texters or callers because information brought to him for immediate action turned out to be positive and drug pushers and users were subsequently neutralized.
By Dexter . See