Southern Leyte declared drug-free

MANILA, Philippines — Southern Leyte has become the first province in the Visayas to be cleared of illegal drugs.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Director General Aaron Aquino presented the certificate to Gov. Christopherson Yap in Maasin City yesterday. 

Aquino lauded local government officials, police officers and personnel of concerned government agencies who helped make Southern Leyte the third drug-free province in the country. Batanes was cleared of illegal drugs in 2016 and Romblon last year.

“Making our province a drug-free zone is a challenging task. But the greater challenge is maintaining its status as a drug-cleared province,” he said. 

Aquino said 5,324 of 24,400 affected barangays across the country are now drug-free.

P4.5-M shabu, marijuana seized

In Cebu City, “high-value” drug pusher Mark Abella, who was arrested in a sting in Barangay Tejero on Tuesday, yielded 175 grams of shabu valued at P2 million, Senior Superintendent Joel Doria, Cebu City police chief, said yesterday.

A total of 5,460 fully grown marijuana plants and more than 8,000 seedlings worth P2.5 million were uprooted and destroyed in Sitio Mapa, Barangay Tagbao also in Cebu City.

Masseur Jose Berdinar, 20, alias Heart, was arrested for selling a sachet of shabu worth P5,200 to a police officer who posed as a buyer in Barangay Manoc-Manoc in Boracay yesterday.

Police said 80 other sachets of shabu with an estimated value of P80,000 were recovered from the suspect.

In Bulacan, around 750 grams of dried marijuana leaves worth P82,500 were seized from four drug suspects in Barangay Poblacion, Baliwag and Sta. Rita, Guiguinto. –  With Emmanuel Tupas, Ramon Efren Lazaro, Jennifer Rendon, Minerva Gerodias/The Freeman