Kalinga emerging as marijuana ‘hotspot’
TABUK CITY – Kalinga province is emerging to be the country’s top marijuana “hotspot,” replacing Benguet, also one of the six provinces comprising the Cordilleras.
An official of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) made this initial assessment over the weekend following the recent discovery of vast marijuana plantations in Kalinga’s remote Tinglayan town, particularly on Mt. Bitulayungan.
“Definitely, it is one of the biggest marijuana plantations discovered in the country. It is so far the biggest single haul this year,” said Ronald Allan Ricardo, PDEA director for the Cordillera Administrative Region.
“We thought that Benguet is the biggest producer of marijuana until our discov- ery here,” he said.
He said they are now checking if some “big personalities” might have something to do with the marijuana plantations.
“We are not yet definite on our assessment. Maybe there are but we cannot yet name names, as they are not even included on our watch list or target list,” he said.
“We want to have strong evidence against them, not just mere hearsay, before we go to court,” he added.
Joint PDEA, police and Air Force operatives took a respite from uprooting thousands of marijuana plants last Saturday after nearly five days of non- stop operations on Mt. Bitulayungan.
Senior Superintendent Froilan Perez, Kalinga police director, said the joint operatives, backed by two Air Force helicopters, have so far uprooted at least P156 million worth of fully grown marijuana plants from a six-hectare plantation in Tinglayan town.
As of Saturday, reports said at least 733,800 ready-to-harvest marijuana plants had been uprooted and burned on Mt. Bitulayungan where a police helicopter crash-landed last Wednesday while conducting an aerial marijuana eradication survey.
Mt. Bitulayungan lies near the border of Kalinga and Mt. Province.