SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – Antique is one village (barangay) away from achieving its goal of being cleared of illegal drugs.
“There is only one more barangay which had to be cleared by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police,” Antique provincial government consultant for Peace and Order and Public Security (POPS) Margie Gadian said in an interview Tuesday.
Without naming the last barangay out of the 590 villages, she said the provincial government is hopeful that Antique will be declared as a drug-cleared province before the year ends.
She said the province has allocated PHP1 million for the anti-illegal drugs campaign in support of the thrust of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“For this year, we were able to conduct drug testing among the 800 employees of the provincial government of whom none of them turned out positive,” she said.
Gadian added that the drug-testing was to ensure that their workplace is drug-free.
The provincial government also administered drug tests to about 200 Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs) at Antique’s Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).
In addition to drug testing, a Bahay Silangan has been established in the municipality of Hamtic in 2020 but has yet to accept clients because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“So far as I know no one had yet been admitted at the Bahay Silangan until now,” she said.
Gadian said so far, the anti-illegal drugs campaign has reduced its proliferation in the province
Source: Philippines News Agency
