Cebu province to set up anti-drugs offices in all 22 major sea ports

INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

CEBU CITY — All 22 major seaports in the entire Cebu Province will put up anti-illegal drugs offices as the local government here intensifies its own localized “drug war.”

The chiefs of police will head the sub-offices as commanders and a Philippine Coast Guard officer as its deputy. The sub-offices will be under the supervision of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7).

The new setup is part of the strict border control efforts of the One Cebu Inter-Agency Interdiction Task Force organized by the Cebu provincial government, the Central Visayas police and PDEA-7, which leads the localized drug war.

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, who spearheaded the localized drug war, believed that with the absence of a shabu laboratory in the province, one of the main entry points of illegal drugs is the ports scattered across the island.

In its first organizational meeting last week, the government agencies vowed to stop the entry of illegal drugs into Cebu province with stricter inspections of passengers and cargoes to be supervised by the “anti-drug offices” at the port.

A command center will also be set up at the Cebu capitol in Cebu City to monitor these ports with live, closed-circuit television cameras and other communication equipment.

The inter-agency group will also use this setup in other peace and order concerns on Cebu island.

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JPV/abc