2 tons of illegal drugs destroyed in cement facility
NORZAGARAY, Bulacan—Two tons of illegal drugs worth P167 million that the courts had used as evidence and ordered destroyed went up in smoke on Friday inside the fuel incinerator of cement giant Holcim Philippines’ manufacturing plant in this town.
Officials of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) oversaw the destruction of marijuana, cocaine, ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, benzylpiperazine, “ecstasy,” valium, ketamine, methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu,” poppy seeds and expired medicines contained in plastic packages.
The drugs and equipment were used in the prosecution of drug suspects in 46 courts of Bulacan, Rizal, Pampanga and Metro Manila. Some were held by the Bureau of Customs.
The materials were used as fuel for the cement kiln of the Holcim facility in Barangay Matictic, according to Bobby Sajonia, plant manager.
Tapping Holcim’s plants to destroy illegal drugs is cost-effective for government, according to Undersecretary Jose Gutierrez Jr., PDEA director general.
“Instead of spending more than P200,000 [to] destroy [drugs and drug paraphernalia], the government is spending nothing [by donating the materials to Holcim as fuel],” he said.
He said Holcim’s plant in the Visayas was the first cement facility that the government used to destroy confiscated drugs. Its cement kiln can burn and destroy up to 2 tons of what he described as “alternative fuel,” Sajonia said.
The facility does not just burn the materials but also treats the emission so nothing toxic is released to the environment, he added.
In many Luzon towns, Holcim has been collecting plastic refuse as additional fuel for its plants.
Gutierrez said law enforcers could tie up with cement plants closest to their areas to dispose of confiscated narcotics. In places like Baguio City, police officials occasionally burn confiscated marijuana in parks and open fields. Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon
