Marijuana plants worth P1.4 billion to be burned today

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga , Philippines  – Maj. Gen. Lino Horacio Lapinid, chief of the Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), will lead the burning of uprooted marijuana plants worth about P1.4 billion at the Wallace Air Station in San Fernando, La Union today.

Lt. Col. Allan Ballesteros, of the 1st Air Division of the Philippine Air Force here, said the fully grown marijuana plants were uprooted from various areas at the boundaries of Ilocos Sur, La Union, and Benguet as part of Oplan Farmville (named after a farming game on the Facebook social networking website).

Jointly behind Oplan Farmville, which went on full blast last Jan. 20, were the Armed Forces, Philippine National Police, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and National Bureau of Investigation.  – Ding Cervantes, Jun Elias