‘Drug-free’ barangays mere publicity
Heads of various government agencies and local chief executives who declare barangays as drug-free are just fooling themselves and are doing it just to make it appear that they are strongly supporting the government’s campaign against illegal drugs. They are also doing it for publicity.
In Cebu province, several barangays were declared “drug free,” including all the barangays under Bogo City. But with thousands of people residing in a barangay, I don’t believe the declaration. Authorities cannot even control the proliferation of illegal drugs inside our jails where the movements of the prisoners are restricted and closely guarded.
What is the criteria for declaring a barangay as drug free? Under Dangerous Drugs Board Regulation No. 3, series of 2017, a barangay can only be declared free of illegal drug activities if it passes the following criteria; That illegal drug is no longer available in the entire village, there is no longer any drug transit/ transshipment activity there, no clandestine drug laboratory, no clandestine drug warehouse, no clandestine chemical warehouse, no marijuana cultivation site, no drug den, no drug pusher, no drug user/ dependent and no protector, coddler and financier.
Imagine how tedious the process is? Do you think the criteria have been satisfied before the oversight committee composed of local government units, the provincial chief executive and representatives from the Department of Health, Department of Interior and Local Governments and the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA) approved it?
Do you think that not even one drug user exists in the 29 barangays under Bogo City? Oh, come on. I am not privy to the terrain in Bogo but I am sure there are mountain barangays there that can hardly be reached by transportation. It’s possible some people there are cultivating marijuana for livelihood.
The criteria say that the barangay is no longer being made as transit or transshipment point of illegal drugs. Note that people of nearby municipalities like Medellin and Daanbantayan pass Bogo City. Do you think drug dealers in these municipalities won’t transact their illegal business in Bogo City?
Illegal drugs now are all over. Even the remotest barangays have been penetrated by drug pushers. Habal-habal drivers are tagged as couriers in the mountain barangays. Children are used by drug syndicates as drug courier in urban barangays. Village officials, barangay tanods and even teachers are into the illegal drug trade.
Who made the report from the barangay level before it reaches the local chief executive and to the oversight committee? The Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Badac)? Can we trust Badac when many barangay officials are involved in illegal drug activities? I can only support the declaration of a “drug-free” barangay if that barangay is without inhabitants.
Maayo pa ning mga tawhana nga nagdeklarar og “drug-free” barangay mokuha og bato ug ipukpok nila sa ilang ulo. Inyo lang gitunto inyong kaugalingon.