By: Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD City – The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-6 declared 21 villages in Negros Occidental as illegal drugs free.
These villages were Damutan, Sangki, Daug, Buluangan, and San Rafael in Hinoba-an town; Bulanon, Molocaboc, Campo Himogaan, and Tadlong in Sagay City; Cambaros, Buenavista Rizal, and Zamora in Pontevedra town; Caridad, and Ilijan in Bago City; 5, and 8 in Victorias City; Latasan, and San Isidro in E.B. Magalona; Sta. Teresa, and Chambery in Manapla town; and Bagtic in Silay City.
PDEA-Negros Occidental head Jose Tomabini said 23 villages in the province applied for drug clearing, but Barangays Puey in Sagay City and 19 in Victorias City were delisted because of the presence of suspected drug personalities.
The 21 villages in the province were among the 349 additional barangays that were recently declared as drug-free during the 15th Regional Oversight Committee deliberation headed by PDEA-6 officer-in-charge Alex Tablate, chairman of the Western Visayas Oversight Committee, held in Iloilo City on July 4.
Tomabini said almost 40 villages in the province were already cleared from illegal drugs since January 2019.
More than 2,300 barangays out of 4,051 have already been officially declared unaffected from illegal drugs in the whole region.
However, these villages will still be under monitoring to verify their drug-free status.
“We will be lifting their drug-cleared status if they cannot maintain it,” Tomabini said.
Tomabini said their next deliberation for the third quarter will be in September.
PDEA-6 is hoping to achieve total clearing of all barangays on or before 2022.
