PDEA Director General Aaron N. Aquino The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) is awarding certificates to drug-free barangays.

In a statement, PDEA said the program is part of the agency’s overall plan to clear the 24,000 barangays nationwide from drugs before the term of President Rodrigo Duterte ends in 2022.

To achieve such goal PDEA Director General Aaron N. Aquino ordered the different regional offices of PDEA to implement the program.

On 11 July 2018, Director Gil Pabilona led the awarding of the Drug-Cleared Barangay Certificates to 12 barangays in the municipality of Mexico in Pampanga.

The award of the certificates is in accordance with the requirements set forth under Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) Regulation 3, series of 2017.

Aside from awarding the certificates to barangays cleared from drugs the PDEA also conducted a reorientation seminar for local officials on the implementation of barangay drug clearing program.

For a barangay to be declared “drug-cleared,” it must meet six requirements: non-availability of drug supply; absence of drug den, pusher, user; absence of clandestine drug laboratory, active involvement of barangay officials in anti-drug activities; existence of drug awareness preventive education and information, and existence of drug awareness, preventive education and information.

The same activity was also conducted in the municipalities of San Felipe and Cabangan in the province of Zambales on 24 July 2018.

Prior to this, PDEA Regional Office III held a lecture for barangay and municipal officials, as well as the police force of Hagonoy, Bulacan about the DDB Regulation 3.

Discussions also tackled the duties of the Anti- Drug Abuse Council (ADACs), the guidelines for voluntary surrender of drug users and dependents, and the role of the Monitoring Mechanisms of the barangay anti-drug abuse campaigns.

The PDEA also held an anti-drug summit in the City of San Jose del Monte on 10 July 2018.Assistant Secretary Ruel Lasala, deputy director general for operations of PDEA, urged the 896 Sangguniang Kabataan and barangay officials to actively support the governments campaign against illegal drugs.

Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Martin Diño, Mayor Arturo Robes and Vice Mayor Efren Bartolome were also present in the summit.

Aquino said the summit was specifically conducted to inform barangay officials of their role in clearing their localities of dangerous drugs and their perpetrators.

“As leader of their localities, they know their constituents who are involved in illegal drug activities,” he said.

Meanwhile, an anti-drug operation in Bacolod City on Wednesday resulted in the arrest of four suspects and the confiscation of shabu with an estimated street value of around P1 million.

The suspects were identified as Renante Sonalan, Pastor Palo, Jesus Paurillo and Jesus Rodriguez.

According to Insp. James Albaytar, chief of Bacolod City Police, the suspected drug pushers were arrested in a buy-bust operation staged at Barangay Singcang Airport.

Charges for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 are being readied against the arrested suspects. CRP

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