Only 222 out of 601 barangays in Negros Occidental, or 36.9 percent, have been declared “drug-cleared” by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the lowest in Western Visayas.
The PDEA, however, was quick to clarify that the low turnout of their anti-drug campaign in the province was not because village officials or local governments were remiss of their responsibility but because of the lack of personnel and the limited movements of their existing evaluators due to the pandemic.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said the provincial government aims to increase drug-cleared barangays to 70 percent.
Bacolod City’s result was also dismal with only 12 of the 61 barangays cleared from illegal drugs, PDEA records show.
Lacson lamented Negros Occidental’s record was far behind from that of Iloilo Province, where 90 percent of its barangays have been declared drug-free.
In the Provincial Anti-Drug Summit held at the Provincial Capitol, PDEA-6 Assistant Regional Director Donelyn Hemedez, said one reason why Negros and Bacolod still have a big number of barangays which were not declared drug free was because evaluators were not able to proceed with their tasks last year due to the lockdown brought by pandemic in many areas which applied for evaluation.
Another reason was that the agency lacks personnel because some PDEA agents in the region and particularly several members of PDEA team in Negros were infected of the virus, she claimed.
Hermedez said in Negros alone, 10 personnel got infected of the virus.
One of the important parameters before declaring barangays as drug-cleared is if they have implemented the CBRP or the community-based rehabilitation program for illegal drug users.
Because of some restrictions during pandemic most of the barangays cannot conduct the CBRP and the one responsible to handle the program cannot issue certificates for candidates for graduation.
The purpose of the summit is to evaluate the present situation under Modified General Community Quarantine and to introduce steps to strengthen some areas of the program in order to achieve a drug free community.
PDEA introduced partnership program with the LGU and other national agencies like the project of the Bahay Silangan, a community- based rehabilitation program and to double the effort in the other aspects of drug clearing program.
Hemedez added that last December during the Regional Oversight Committee meeting, PDEA started to augment its team to Negros to assist in the drug clearing program of barangays. – MML
