Pdea confiscates P720K marijuana

Six kilograms (kg) or P720,000 worth of marijuana was confiscated in a joint buy bust operation of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (Pdea) Davao del Sur and Davao Occidental on Sunday.

The operation was done around 8:40 PM of October 28, 2018 at Purok 5, Sitio Sugbong, Barangay San Isidro, Hagonoy, Davao del Sur.

Pdea 11 regional director Antonio Rivera identified the suspect as Joynel Solmeron who is now detained at the Pdea 11 office.

“Gipa-subject nato siya sa drug test and it turned out, positive gyud siya [on illegal drug intake] (He was subjected to a drug test and it turned out that he is positive for illegal drugs),” Rivera said on an interview with reporters yesterday.

“Dako gyud, so diha nimo makita na naga-distribute gyud siya and naa pud mi report na nagabaligya pud siya og baril (It is a large amount of Marijuana so we could really see that he distributes it and aside from that, we have a report that he also sells guns),” he added.

The authorities confiscated a .38 caliber pistol which was accordingly, a violation under the Republic Act 10591 otherwise known as the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.

Rivera said that the government has been focusing on the demand and supply reduction in the region.

“Supply reduction, mao ni tong gina-buy bust nato, gina-reduce nato ang pagsulod sa droga sa Region 11 (We are now focusing our buy-bust operations in reducing the supply of illegal drugs in the region),” he said, adding that demand reduction is where they make an effort for awareness of the dangers of drugs.

According to Rivera, some of the operations they conducted have become successful with the help of the information given by concerned private individuals.

“We have been consistent in our desire to stop the glorification of illegal drugs. We ask the people to stop using it,” he said.