Romblon declared 2nd drug-free province in PH

Romblon town in Romblon (Google maps)

CITY OF CALAPAN—The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) officially declared Romblon province drug-free, the second in the country to have achieved the declaration since Batanes.

Supt. Imelda Tolentino, Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan (MIMAROPA) regional police information officer, said in a statement Tuesday that the declaration was made during the ceremonies held at Romblon State College.

Tolentino said Romblon province met the requirements for the validation and declaration of its drug-free status by the PDEA.

Romblon is the second province in the country declared as “drug cleared” after the province of Batanes, which received the same declaration in June this year.

During the implementation of Project Double Barrel, Project Double Barrel Alpha and Project Double Barrel Reloaded, Romblon police launched 35 operations that led to the arrest of 47 suspects, of which
13 are High Value Targets (HVTs) including barangay officials.

The series of operations also led to the confiscation of 188 grams of “shabu” or crystal meth and 55 grams of marijuana. /jpv