KAPANGAN, Benguet – Mayor Manny Fermin said the recent arrest of dozens of individuals and seizure of hundreds of millions worth of dried marijuana leaves by combined police operatives and anti-narcotics agents is a product of the vigilance of the people against the proliferation of illegal drugs in their communities.
The local chief executive pointed there is still a need for more vigilance among the people living in the remote villages of Kapangan and Kibungan for them to report suspicious activities by their village mates so that local officials and law enforcers could immediately conduct the appropriate operations to check on such activities.
“We want to sustain the marijuana-free image of Kapangan that is why we are constantly coordinating with barangay officials and the people in the different barangays as well as those in our neighboring municipalities for us to closely work together and curb the proliferation of marijuana within our midst,” Fermin stressed.
During a series of anti-drug operations, joint personnel of the Kapangan Municipal Police Station led by Chief Inspector Jim Hilario and Kibungan Municipal Police Station headed by Chief Inspector James Acud arrested some 15 individuals, including 4 minors, and confiscated from them nearly P1 million worth of marijuana which were supposed to be transported to Bacoor City, Cavite.
Mayor Fermin extended his gratitude to the concerned citizen who tipped the local officials and the police on the transport of the said contraband, saying that responsible citizens like them deserve their utmost commendation while the operating troops should be lauded for their patience and sacrifice in conducting the operation that deterred the transport of marijuana to the markets in Metro Manila.
He recommended the strengthening of coordination among the local officials of Benguet and La Union so that marijuana cultivators and traders trying to use the Bagulin route to escape from the dragnet operations of the police should be prevented in the future and that all those involved in the lucrative marijuana trade should be accounted for.
One of the vehicles used by the marijuana cultivators and their clients from Cavite was able to escape from the anti-drug operations conducted by the combined police operatives and anti-narcotics agents because upon sensing the presence of the operating troops, the vehicle suddenly took the route to Gaswiling barangay which exits to Bagulin, La Union, and its occupants were able to evade arrest and flee with their still undetermined volume of marijuana leaves inside the vehicle.
Fermin assured the lessons learned from the recent anti-drug operations in the municipality should serve as a challenge for both local officials and the police operatives to ensure that all loopholes shall have been plugged to prevent marijuana cultivators and traders from eluding arrest and the confiscation of their contraband in their possession. With Fermin during the operation was Kibungan Mayor Cesar Molitas.
By HENT
