Lamitan LGU, PDEA set up agency's Basilan operation base

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The local government unit of Lamitan City and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are jointly setting up PDEA-BARMM's provincial operation center in Basilan province.

Mayor Roderick Furigay and PDEA-BARMM’s director, Edgar Jubay, forged on Tuesday, August 18, a usufruct agreement allowing the agency to use 467 square meters of land owned by the Lamitan City LGU as a site for its planned Basilan office.

The facility shall cover all of the 40 barangays in Lamitan City and the 11 towns in the province, according to Furigay, who, as chairperson of their multi-sector city peace and order council, is actively supporting, along with Gov. Mujiv Hataman, PDEA-BARMM’s anti-narcotics thrusts in Basilan.

“We are optimistic that it would soon rise as planned, based on the timeline set for its full establishment,” Furigay said.

Basilan is one of the five provinces in BARMM, which also has three cities, Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato, where its regional capitol is located.

Hataman, elected as Basilan governor just last year, said his administration will help put up PDEA-BARMM's provincial operation center in Lamitan City.

Furigay and Jubay affixed their signatures to the usufruct agreement pertaining to PDEA-BARMM's use of Lamitan City LGU's land for its operation center during a symbolic rite at the mayor’s office on Tuesday, in the presence of  Lamitan City Sangguniang Panglungsod members Noel Baul, Sam Atain and Joseph Manuel.

While in Basilan, Jubay and his subordinates also met Hataman at the provincial capitol in Barangay Sta. Clara in Lamitan City, where they talked about continuing cooperation in PDEA-BARMM’s law-enforcement activities in the province. 

Hataman had assured Jubay then to flex his powers, as governor, in helping PDEA-BARMM enforce state anti-narcotics laws in Basilan. (John Felix Unson)