TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines – Officials of the Leyte Provincial Police Office yesterday confirmed that at 21.64 percent, or 301 out of 1,393 barangays in the province are now affected by illegal drugs, both shabu and marijuana.
LPPO Director, Senior Superintendent Franco Simborio, said the figures, based on the latest validation of the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils last June 30, showed an increase compared to the past three years when only 276 barangays were affected.
“Of course this is not yet alarming compared to the number of barangays in other provinces, which has been reported to have been in high demand of supply. In our area in Leyte, we can say that until now the demand for illegal drugs is still minimal. We are also happy to note that our apprehensions of suspects had the support of concerned citizens who provided the police and the anti-drug operatives with tips,” Simborio told The Freeman.
Simborio said a command conference will be held at the Police Regional Office-8 on July 30. Representatives of the police anti-illegal drugs units and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency will convene to revalidate the situation of illegal drug deals in the region, he said.
PRO-8 Regional Director, Chief Supt. Asher Dolina, had earlier said his order would be to eliminate street drug pushing, and had deployed 80 percent of policemen in the region to the field and enforce the drive against illegal drugs.
The scheduled meeting will also determine the number of drug dealers and other personalities who have been arrested over the past seven-month campaign, said Simborio.
The PRO-8’s Operations Division had earlier revealed that policemen in Eastern Visayas have been targeting close to 1,000 drug personalities under the watch lists, with at least 300 suspects already hauled to court for violation of Republic Act 9165, or the law against illegal drugs.
Unconfirmed reports reaching police authorities in Leyte province stated that the operations of drug syndicates are now in Abuyog, with the penal colony in that town as the alleged source of shabu.
Simborio however refused to confirm this, saying his command was still gathering information on the matter, in coordination with officials of the Bureau of Corrections.
But a suspected drug pusher who was arrested in Tabango town of Leyte last week, for possession of 10 bultos of shabu, told the police he got the drugs from the Abuyog Penal Colony.
Earlier last March, the jail guards of the APC have seized illegal drugs, amounting to P1 million, which was sent via a private courier firm to an inmate facing drug charges.