PDEA Denies Existence of Drugs Lab in Eastern Visayas

Tacloban City –- A top official of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Eastern Visayas said there’s no existing drug laboratory in the region, despite proliferation of narcotics here.

The anti-narcotics agency has denied claims on the existence of illegal drug laboratories in Eastern Samar, Northern Samar and Leyte provinces, citing investigation outcome.

“But we do not stop on this report because their modus now is to buy the ingredients in one place, move to another place for drying it, then to another place for the final process. So we cannot confirm 100 percent if there is really an illegal drugs laboratory in the region,” said PDEA Regional Director Edgar Jubay.

Eastern Visayas region is a distribution area for illegal drugs coming from Cebu, Metro Manila and Mindanao.

Kerwin Espinosa, the top illegal drug trader in Eastern Visayas, gets his supply from Cebu, according to Jubay.

Drug traders uses air, sea and land to transport illegal drugs to distribution areas, but with the intensified monitoring in entry and exit points in Eastern Visayas, traders resorted to other means of transportation to evade anti-drug operations.

Most of the illegal drugs come in through coastal areas that are not fully monitored by law enforcement agencies.

Marijuana and shabu are the common illegal drugs distributed in the region. Some illegal drug traders also try to sell ecstasy or party drugs, but only few buyers can afford, according to PDEA.

Jubay added that the intensified campaign against proliferation of illegal drugs had resulted for reduce of narcotics supply in the region and increase of its market value.

Although one of the top illegal drug operator in the country is from Eastern Visayas, records shows that of the situation is still manageable.

Of the 4,390 villages in the region, there are 822 areas tagged as drug-affected, representing 18.7 percent of the region’s total number of villages.(PNA) JMC/SQM/ROEL T. AMAZONA/EGR