Iloilo City’s drug seizure skyrocketed to 1,353%

By Jennifer P. Rendon

Just how did Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) fare in its anti-illegal drugs campaign in 2023?

Records from the Police Regional Office (PRO) 6 indicated that ICPO did not just triple or even quadruple its illegal drugs confiscation, but it went up by 1,353 percent,

Major Mary Grace Borio, PRO-6 spokesperson, said the data only includes operations conducted by ICPO units. It excluded operations by other units such as the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit (RPDEU) 6, PNP Drug Enforcement Group (DEG) and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

From last year’s illegal drugs worth P6,789,152, ICPO seizures in 2023 were valued at P98,669,850.

Also registering a big increase is the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) with 904%, from P6,795,225 in 2022 to P68,244,483 last year.

Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) still topped the list with P100,457,732 worth of confiscated drugs. But the figure is only a 4.93 percent increase from the previous year’s P95,734,824.

Meanwhile, one of the previous’ frontliners in PRO-6’s anti-illegal drugs campaign, the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO), only seized P36,695,926, or a 44 percent drop from P65,816,209 in 2022.

The RPDEU-6 logged a confiscation worth P71,370,040. Last year’s seized drugs were valued at P74,143,094 or a decrease of 3.75 percent.

Other provinces like Antique PPO also posted an increase after it confiscated illegal drugs worth P1,320,949 while Capiz PPO seized P12,304,949 worth of drugs and Guimaras PPO with P1,625,064.

Aklan PPO only recovered P196,791 worth of illegal drugs and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-Regional Field Unit 6 with P102,000.

Generally, bigger illegal drug confiscations and more arrests marked the PRO-6’s anti-illegal drugs campaign.

Overall, different police units confiscated 57.465 kilograms of shabu and 1.7 kilograms of marijuana with a standard drug price value of P390,977,787.

The number is higher by 50.88 percent from last year’s confiscation of shabu and marijuana worth P259,125,359.

Brigadier General Sidney Villaflor, Western Visayas police chief, said the drugs were confiscated in 2,112 anti-narcotics operations. These also led to the arrest of 2,873 “drug personalities.”