0 drugs in 76 Cebu villages

But less than 8% of 1,066 barangays are drug-free?

16 latest barangays to be cleared are in Alcoy, Santander and Boljoon

Police Regional Director Noli Taliño says 30 village chiefs are being monitored, on suspicion that they’re linked to illegal drugs

APOLICE official said 76 barangays in Cebu Province are free from illegal drug users and pushers.

Senior Supt. Eric Noble, the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) director, said the police recently declared 16 villages in

Alcoy, Santander and Boljoon as “drug-cleared” places.

Police forwarded the list to the Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office (CPADAO) for final approval.

Declared drug-cleared barangays were Pasol, Pugalo, Poblacion, and San Agustin in Alcoy; Candamyang, Liptong, Looc and Pasil in Santander; and Arbor, Baclayan, Granada, South Granada, Lower Becerril, Luntop, San Antonio and Nangka in Boljoon.

The original list included 20 barangays in these municipalities, but Noble left out four barangays because he still has doubts.

Watch out

The challenge now is how to maintain these villages as drug-free.

Noble said the monitoring will continue and a police official will be assigned to each Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Badac).

He added that the police chiefs of Boljoon, Alcoy and Santander will be held liable if someone will be caught using or selling drugs in those 16 villages.

“Pag may makunan sila, patay sila sa akin. Ibig sabihin sinungaling yung hepe. So, kasama narin yung kapitan. Gagawan ko sila ng report (If anyone gets caught in those villages, the police chiefs have to answer for me. That would mean they were lying and that the barangay captain may have been involved. I would report them),” said Noble.

The official said that the police still have a lot of work to do because Cebu is a big province, composed of 1,066 barangays.

For his part, Police Regional Office 7 Director Noli Taliño said it would be difficult to clear all barangays in Central Visayas from drugs by the end of December.

30 chiefs?

He said, though, that they are doing well in arresting or neutralizing illegal drug personalities.

From July 1 until 6 a.m. Dec. 12, police records showed that 15,910 alleged drug personalities have surrendered and 4,322 were arrested.

The official also said they are validating the reports that there are 30 barangay captains who are involved in the illegal drug trade.

“We cannot conduct Tokhang on them if there is no basis,” he said.

In the drug-cleared villages, Noble said, before they can validate and approve, the Badac, Municipal Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Madac) and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency must submit their certifications.

According to the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), a community is classified as being cleared of illegal drugs when: there is no drug supply in it; it isn’t being used as a drug transit or transshipment point; it has no illegal drug laboratory, chemical drug warehouse, or marijuana cultivation site; and it has no resorts or other places being used as drug dens.

‘Liberated’

The other factor is the absence of drug pushers, drug users or dependents, as well as protectors or coddlers and financiers.

DDB also mandates that barangay officials should be active in antidrug activities, and members of the Sangguniang Kabataan should help maintain the “drug-liberated” status of the barangay.

There should also be drug awareness, preventive education and information, and other related programs, and voluntary and compulsory drug treatment and a rehabilitation processing desk.

A barangay is said to be “slightly affected” when only a drug user exists in the area and it has no known drug pusher.

The village is “moderately affected” if at least one suspected pusher exists in the area, while it is “seriously affected” if it has at least one suspected drug laboratory, a warehouse, a den, dive, resort or similar establishment, or marijuana cultivation site.