PDEA to cleanse 827 villages of illegal drugs

CLARK FREEPORT — The drug menace persists in 2,409 of 3,102 villages in Central Luzon, and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) will start cleansing 827 of these this year, a top antinarcotics official said here on Friday.

Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils will help these villages meet the parameters for a drug-free area, which include absence of drug pushers, drug abusers and drug dens.

Meeting these parameters, according to PDEA Regional Director Gil Pabilona, would entitle the villages to certificates saying they were drug-free.

200 arrests

From 2017 to Feb. 22, Pabilona said the PDEA had cleared 119 of 789 villages of the drug menace in Nueva Ecija, 180 of 385 in Pampanga, 116 of 118 in Bataan, 43 of 135 in Zambales, 110 of 392 in Tarlac, 35 of 507 in Bulacan, 54 of 96 in Aurora, 2 of 31 in Angeles City and 1 of 16 in Olongapo City.

Pabilona said the 185 PDEA personnel in the region carried out more than 200 arrests in 2018.

A number of elected officials were being monitored for involvement in the drug trade but Pabilona said he was not authorized to disclose their identities.

He also said the agency has no information as to how much intelligence funds had been spent by local governments to help rid their communities of the drug problem.

US sources

According to him, most shabu, or crystal meth, supplies in Central Luzon were smuggled to Central Luzon through parcels from Nevada and California in the United States.

But these were intercepted at the Port of Clark, including 20 kilograms of “shabu” (crystal meth) that were seized on Jan. 14 and 23.

The government’s drug war has been criticized for the big number of deaths during police operations.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) documented 202 “drug-related EJKs [extra-judicial killings] cases” in Central Luzon between May 2016 and December 2017. The supposed victims totaled 254.

Weight of policy

Reacting to a statement by President Dutrerte that the drug campaign was going to be harsher, CHR spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia said: “We recognize the need to address the drug problem and if the methods need to be harsh, we will not question it for as long as it is in accordance with the rule of law and does not result in loss of lives.”

But she said the term “harsher” carries “the weight of a policy and reinforces the culture of impunity given that it was uttered by no less than the commander in chief.” —Tonette Orejas