Capitol: No Politics Involved in Drug Clearing of Barangays

A total of 185 barangays across the province of Cebu made it in the list of drug-cleared communities, the Regional Oversight Committee (ROC) on illegal drugs recently announced.

Last year, the committee declared at least 160 drug-cleared barangays. For the first four months of this year, the committee cleared another 25 barangays, making the total number of drug-cleared barangays to 185.

The latest drug-cleared barangays include the 13 barangays of Pilar town, seven barangays in San Remigio town, three barangays in Danao City, and one barangay each from the City of Naga and San Francisco town.

With 51 towns and cities, the Province of Cebu has 1,066 barangays.

”Most, if not all, of the drug-cleared barangays are here in Cebu Province. That only shows that we are active here in Cebu,” said Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Director Rene Burdeos. He added that Cebu is the only local government unit (LGU) in the region that actively monitors and announces its drug-cleared barangays.

Burdeos is one of the members of the oversight committee, being chaired by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7. The Cebu Provincial Government, through the Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office (CPADAO), is also one of the members of the committee.

With the Capitol being just a part of the committee, Gov. Hilario P. Davide III denied speculations that the drug clearing efforts are made in time for the barangay and youth elections.

“This is a collegial body that determines and validates whether a barangay is drug-cleared,” said Davide.

The other members of the committee are the Philippine National Police represented by Supt. Anthony Bagarinao of the Cebu Provincial Police Office and the Department of Health (DOH).

Last May 10, CPADAO invited members of the oversight committee and barangay officials for the declaration of drug-cleared barangays in Cebu and to recognize the efforts of these barangays.

CPADAO Head Carmen Remedios Ivy Durano said these government agencies have been tasked to check on specific criteria in the validation process.

She said that the DILG has been assigned to check the action plan of the barangays and to ensure it is being implemented.

The DOH focuses on community-based treatment programs while the Police is tasked to work on the demand- reduction of drugs and those in the watchlist. PDEA, on the other hand, is focused on high-value targets in the drug clearing operations.

The role of CPADAO is to monitor the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (BADAC), and to ensure that it is functioning well.

“Mao bitaw naa tay oversight committee, ang chairman PDEA man gyud, ug lima ni ka ahensiya nga nag validate. So dili tinuod kana nga Provincial Government ra through the CPADAO ang nagpili niining mga barangay (That’s the reason why we have an oversight committee headed by PDEA, and five various agencies are doing the validation. So it is not true that the selection of drug-cleared barangays is primarily being done by the Provincial Capitol through CPADAO,” said Davide.

“Ito pong pag declare as drug-cleared barangay consensus natin at nag-undergo talaga ng proper validation (The declaration of a drug-cleared barangay is a consensus effort and it has undergone proper validation),” said PDEA-7 chief Emerson Margate.

Burdeos said that the committee has been clearing barangays of illegal drugs since last year.

“The campaign for drug clearing is a continuing one and it is not triggered by existing elections,” said Burdeos.

He added that it is only the Cebu Provincial Government that created an office, the CPADAO, which is primarily tasked to focus on anti-illegal drug campaign.

Margate, on the other hand, said that as early as January this year the committee has already received an endorsement for drug-cleared barangays.

But the committee, he said, saw the need to conduct further validations.

“We made it sure na ma comply talaga nila yung parameters na gusto nating makita. So nakita nyo naman po doon sa 35 na in-endorse, 25 lang yung kinuha natin kasi yon lang po ang na approve (We made it sure that the parameters are properly complied with. Out of the 35 barangays that were endorsed, we only selected and approved 25). So it has nothing to do with the coming elections,” said Margate.

Getting 20 percent of drug-cleared barangays is one of the factors for an LGU to get the DILG’s Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG).

“Ang kanang (the) Seal of Good Local Governance, bonus ra man lang nato na (is only a bonus),” Davide added, saying that the seal is the DILG’s way of recognizing the efforts of LGUs. The Capitol has been a recipient of the seal for the past three consecutive years.

Davide assured that with or without the seal, the Cebu Provincial Government will remain steadfast.

“We will not stop sa atong kampanya batok sa illegal drugs (on our campaign against illegal drugs),” said Davide.

The declaration of the latest drug-cleared barangays was made during a meeting organized by the CPADAO held at the Capitol last May 10.