Cebu: Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia on Thursday led other officials in the destruction of over 40 kg of illegal drugs, approximately worth PHP284 million, through thermal incineration in a private funeral parlor, an anti-narcotics official said.

According to Philippines News Agency, Alex Tablate, regional head of the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA), stated that the illegal drugs destroyed using the thermal incinerator of Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes consisted of 21 kg of shabu and 2.5 kg of marijuana. He emphasized that the destruction of the seized drugs demonstrates the agency's commitment to addressing the serious drug problem in Central Visayas.

Tablate noted that most of the seized drugs were products of their operations in Cebu City, which the PDEA considers a 'central point' of the illegal drug trade in central Philippines. Based on PDEA-7 records, the illegal drugs destroyed were pieces of evidence in drug cases heard in eight drug courts in Cebu.

In his speech, Mayor Garcia commended PDEA-7, the Philippine National Police, and other law enforcement units for their tireless efforts against illegal drug trading in the capital city. "You are highly commended, and keep up the work. The more that you operate, the more that you do things like these, the more that you make Cebu City safe," he said during the program and before feeding the illegal drugs to the thermal chamber of the funeral parlor.

Mayor Garcia also announced that the city government will purchase an incinerator to be used for burning seized illegal drugs. On January 27, the mayor witnessed the on-site inventory and evidence preservation procedure of PHP170 million worth of shabu seized from a 41-year-old truck driver and his 63-year-old mother in Pier 4, after being sniffed out by a K9 dog detailed by PDEA-7 at the waterfront area.