A total of 454 villages in Western Visayas that have been declared cleared of illegal drugs have each developed their policing systems to maintain their status.
“Our barangays (villages) have become self-reliant and they developed self-policing in their communities. This means they are always on watch and are always monitoring possible illegal drug activities that are reported in their barangays,” said Shey Tanaleon, spokesperson for the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in an interview Wednesday.
She added that barangay officials understood that their barangay drug-cleared status is not permanent but it is an ongoing responsibility because it can be revoked anytime.
On Tuesday, the Regional Oversight Committee (ROC) on Barangay Drug Clearing Program approved the retention of the drug-cleared status of 169 barangays after passing the parameters for their latest validation process, Tanaleon said.
The Barangay Drug Clearing Program was designed to provide a more effective and efficient measure towards preventing and eradicating illegal drug abuse based on Dangerous Drugs Board Regulations No. 3, Series of 2017 (Strengthening the Implementation of Barangay Drug Clearing Program).
She said that 139 of the 169 barangays were issued Certification of No Active Drug Personalities (CNADP).
The new addition brings to 454 the barangays in Western Visayas that have been validated and found to have retained their drug-cleared status since it started last June.
Those that retained their status were declared as drug cleared way back from 2017 to 2018.
The parameters for the retention of the drug-cleared status are more on the intelligence and investigation because it involves monitoring of drug personalities.
“Before they will be given their retained status, they have to undergo a validation process from different intelligence units of our law enforcement agencies,” she added.
The indicators included the inventory of drug personalities as to their status if they have served their jail time or completed their rehabilitation.
Meantime, in the same ROC deliberation, additional 36 new barangays were declared as drug-cleared.
“As of today, out of 4,051 barangays in the whole of Region 6 (Western Visayas), we are now at 3, 502 barangays that were cleared from illegal drugs. We are now 86 percent cleared from the previous 58.85 percent,” Tanaleon said.
Among the parameters that were considered were operational Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (BADAC), drug awareness programs, list of drug personalities and their status, among others.
She emphasized that barangays with drug personalities have to make sure that they are enrolled or have completed rehabilitation or reformation programs.
“They still have to complete the program that was given by the government before we can also declare the barangay as free from illegal drugs,” Tanaleon explained.
The ROC composed of representatives from the Department of Health (DOH), Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and chaired by the PDEA will meet on Dec. 9 for the last deliberation for this year.
Source: Philippines News Agency