Four exclusive villages in Makati City have been declared cleared or free of drugs.
As announced last week by the Regional Oversight Committee on Barangay Drug Clearing Program, Barangays Urdaneta and San Lorenzo were “drug-free” while Barangays Forbes Park and Magallanes were pronounced “drug-cleared.”
The committee is chaired by the regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and cochaired by the regional director of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Its members are the Philippine National Police, Department of Health (DOH), local government units, DOH-accredited treatment and rehabilitation centers.
Drug board requirements
According to the Dangerous Drugs Board’s Regulation No. 3, Series of 2017, for a barangay to be considered cleared of drugs, there should be an absence of drug dens or laboratories, as well as zero drug users, pushers, dependents, protectors and financiers, among others.
Barangays should also have antiillegal drug programs, including drug awareness, preventive education and information campaigns, and voluntary and compulsory drug treatment and rehabilitation processing desks.
Barangays initially validated by PDEA as drug-cleared will receive a drug-free certification once they consistently show zero illegal drug incidents.
In a statement, Mayor Abby Binay commended the chairs of the four barangays for accomplishing “a difficult task that calls for genuine commitment to duty and strong leadership.”
These officials were identified as Leonard Alandy-Dy (Urdaneta), Ernesto Moya (San Lorenzo), Evangeline Manotok (Forbes Park) and Armando Padilla (Magallanes), who is also an incumbent Makati councilor and president of the Liga ng mga Barangay.
Binay said she was hopeful the city’s other 29 barangays would be “motivated to replicate their achievement.”
Initial resistance
In the early days of the government’s campaign against illegal drugs in July 2016, Makati’s exclusive villages refused entry to policemen who wanted to carry out “Oplan Tokhang” operations.
Barangay officials also did not submit a list of drug suspects in their respective areas as required by the police. Instead they issued a certification that there were no drug personalities in their barangays.
Their actions prompted Binay to admonish them to be “more cooperative” with the police.