100% of E.B. Magalona villages cleared of illegal drugs

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – All 23 barangays in E. B. Magalona, Negros Occidental are now drug-cleared.

This, after the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-6 declared the two remaining barangays in the town as drug-cleared during their latest online deliberation on the Barangay Drug-Clearing Program by the 49th Regional Oversight Committee (ROC) yesterday.

The last two villages to be cleared of drugs were Barangays Poblacion 3 and Alicante, according to Police Major Kenneth Jay Gratones, town police chief.

“Our tasks in the illegal drug campaign are not yet finished. In fact, it is just the beginning of a campaign to sustain the gain so painstakingly pursued,” Gratones said.

In a statement, Mayor Marvin Malacon commended the police, PDEA, municipal and barangay officials, Municipal Anti-Drug Abuse Council (MADAC), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (BADAC), Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) councils, Municipal Health Office, Municipal Social Welfare and Development, and other agencies and sectors, as well as the town as a whole for closely working together.

On June 16, the PDEA declared Poblacion 1 and Barangay Consing as drug-cleared, making 21 of the 23 barangays as drug-cleared then.