- MITCH M. LIPA
Provincial Board Member Juvy Pepello said that 253 out of the 601 barangays in Negros Occidental are now drug-free.
Pepello, head of the Provincial Liga ng mga Barangay, presented her report during the first quarter meeting of the Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council and the Provincial Peace and Order Council at the Capitol on Wednesday.
She said 19 more barangays are under evaluation by the Regional Oversight Committee.
Pepello said that despite the pandemic, the PADAC working committee composed of the Philippine National Police, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency continued the periodic inspection and evaluation of the barangays.
At present, Negros Occidental and Bacolod City remain at the bottom of the list of local government units with most number of drug cleared barangays.
Pepello said they are working on the Community Base Rehabilitation Program of the remaining barangays with drug abuse problems.
Meanwhile, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson encouraged all barangays in the province to follow the guidelines set by DILG and PDEA for the drug clearing program.
He said the provincial government is giving incentives in the form of projects to the barangays that were declared drug-free.
On the other hand, the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office reported that they have conducted 196 anti- illegal drugs operation in the first four months of the year.
The operations yielded P16. 2 million worth of illegal drugs with 243 suspects arrested. — MML
