LA TRINIDAD, Benguet, Philippines—There may still be marijuana fields in the province's most remote villages but the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said Benguet is no longer the country's marijuana capital.

PDEA officials told the provincial peace and order council on Friday that Kapangan town has been declared "marijuana-free" while only four villages in Kibungan and Bakun towns still had to rid themselves of the illegal plant.

The three towns were known in the 1970s as the country's "Golden Triangle," a major source of marijuana.

Lawyer Rubie Lorraine Bogya-Lictao, chief of the PDEA's legal and prosecution division in the Cordillera, said efforts to rid the province of marijuana cultivation were successful due to the cooperation of local officials who launched programs to discourage farmers from planting the illegal weed.

"Their programs that provided farmers with alternative sources of income have helped PDEA's [efforts] to eradicate all marijuana plantations [in the province]," she said.

From January to June this year, PDEA said no marijuana plantation was raided in Kapangan. PDEA reports said the villages of Badeo and Takadang in Kibungan, and Kayapa and Sinakbat in Bakun still had marijuana fields.

The PDEA said its continuous operations have driven marijuana growers to remote areas where Benguet, Ilocos Sur and La Union share common boundaries. These boundaries cover an area of 12.65 hectares where 24 marijuana sites have been identified, it said.

Kapangan Mayor Robert Canuto said his town was able to rid itself of marijuana when farmers found livelihood in raising bees and silkworm and in planting anthurium and the root crop yacon.

Kibungan Mayor Benito Siadto said local officials are convincing farmers to try their luck in planting Arabica coffee and shiitake mushrooms aside from raising silkworms.

He said the villages of Badeo and Takadang remained vulnerable to marijuana since these are the town's poorest villages.

Bakun Mayor Marcelo Contada said the absence of farm-to-market roads remained the major reason why farmers in the villages of Kayapa and Sinakbat still planted marijuana.

Contada said the town would use a P1.5-million grant from the Dangerous Drugs Board to start a silkworm industry for local farmers.

"These villages could be reached after a day's hike. This explains why marijuana, which is easy to raise and transport, becomes attractive to farmers," he said.

Governor Nestor Fongwan said the days of the province's remaining marijuana plantations are numbered after the Fiber Industry Development Authority and the Philippine Textile Research Institute promised to start a sericulture industry for farmers.

He said a P30-million loan from the National Electrification Administration to the Benguet Electric Cooperative to energize villages in Benguet would also boost efforts to free Takadang and Badeo from marijuana.

"Hopefully, the arrival of electricity would further boost the agriculture economy of these villages that would force farmers to shy away from planting marijuana," Fongwan said.