Bohol as drug transshipment point

ROC clears 64.11%

of Bohol barangays

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Aug 30 (PIA)—The Regional Oversight Committee tasked to verify and validate the government’s barangay drug clearing program drug has cleared 711 from Bohol’s 1,109 barangays, thus reports Bohol Provincial Police Provincial Director Police Senior Superintendent Lorenzo A. Batuan.

At the recent joint Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) and Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council (PADAC), Polce Colonel Batuan also bared however that Bohol has no barangays which are seriously affected by the illegal drugs problem, and in fact, 17 of Bohol’s over a thousand barangays have remained unaffected by the problem of illegal drugs.

According to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), a barangay becomes classified as seriously affected when there is a noted presence of clandestine drug laboratory, warehouse, marijuana plantation and drug den and tiange, or the presences of drug trafficking or smuggling activity and personality in the barangay.

The PDEA, in coordination with the Philippine National Police, Department of Justice and other allied government line agencies have cleared the previously classified 296 of Bohol’s barangays which are allegedly moderately affected by illegal drugs.

Barangays with moderate affectation, according to the standard government classification, is one with verified presence of drug pushers and drug users.

With the recent accomplishment, the ROC, still has to get to the documents submitted to prove the clearing of the remaining 204 moderately affected barangays, according to the report the PNP Bohol chief.

The ROC has also confirmed the clearance of 398 barangays which have been slightly affected by the problem of illegal drugs.

By slightly affected, authorities mean that there is a reported presence of a pusher or a drug user in the barangay, although this remains unverified.

With the 398 slightly affected barangays recently cleared, only 198 slightly affected barangays remain to be assessed by the team for future clearing.

It may be recalled that before the Barangay Drug Clearing Program (BDCP) started, authorities noted some 17 unaffected barangays, 500 barangays with moderate affectation and another 592 barangays which are slightly affected by the social menace.

As the BDCP continues, Bohol PDEA agent Fedenand Kintanar, during the recent joint PPOC PADAC meeting admitted that there is a considerable increase in the colume of illegal drugs that entered Bohol in the recent months, but the increase does not necessarily mean this is for local consumption.

“A significant portion of those illegal drugs merely pass by Bohol as a transshipment point for illegal drugs for other provinces in the country,” agent Kintanar said.

And to assure Boholanos in the PADAC, the PDEA official said the government is still way above and in control for the drug problem.

Additionally, he said “we have to move fast and make further efforts and implement programs jointly.”

For this, PDEA called on all Boholano sectors to coordinate for concerted efforts, programs and strategies, from the barangays to inter provinces as drug problem has already seeped through boundaries, that solutions to the issue of interconnectedness of the problems, and would have to be hitting on all sides, at the same time and intensity. (PIABohol)

BULK CONFISCATION BEFORE DISTRIBUTION. PDEA Bohol agent Ferdenand Kintanar said the increasing volume of drugs getting recovered in Bohol has dried up supplies supposedly for other areas in the region and in the country. As a trans shipment for illegal drugs, Bohol’s welcoming tourists may also be a loophole for the entry of illegal drugs. (PIABohol)