3 years after drug war, 71% of NCR villages yet to be cleared of drugs

MANILA, Philippines — Over three years since the Duterte government started the war on drugs, 71 percent of villages in Metro Manila has yet to be cleared of the drug menace.

This was admitted by no less than the top police official in the capital region, Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas, who said that only 29 percent of the villages or around 400 barangays have been cleared of drugs.

He has yet to reveal the exact number of villages yet to be cleansed of the drug problem.

Sinas attributed the numbers to the “very complex” situation in Metro Manila, which he said is different compared to other regions.

“NCR (National Capital Region) kasi is the metropolis. Nandito lahat (Everything is here),” he said in a press briefing.

“Mas maganda nga maraming narecover eh. If we have not implemented this war against drugs at tuloy-tuloy ‘yan, maraming mabubuang na Pilipino sa totoo lang. Try to imagine it,” he said.

(It is better that we have recovered a lot of drugs. If we have not implemented this war against drugs and the drug trade continued, a lot of Filipinos will lose their minds. Try to imagine it.)

Despite this data, Sinas said anti-drug operations of the NCRPO were successful, given the number of anti-drug busts and raids conducted by the police, drug suspects arrested, and the “lives we saved in the streets.”

“Kasi kung hindi natin i-implement ‘yan, ilang buhay ang mawawala at ilang mga inosenteng buhay ang magiging biktima ng adik na high sa drugs (If we had not implemented it, many innocent lives will be lost and will fall victims to drug addicts),” he said.

In the nationwide scale, a total of 42,045 villages have been cleared of drugs while another 19,215 have yet to be cleared, based on June 2019 data of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. /jpv

READ: PDEA: Drug war death toll now over 5,500; arrests reach 193,000