Police: Drug Surrenderers in the Province Now 50,000

Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) have recorded about 50,000 surrenderers in Cebu province after its extensive anti-drugs operations conducted from the month of June to December last year, said CPPO Director PSSupt Eric E. Noble.

During his courtesy visit to Vice Governor Agnes A. Magpale last week, Noble shared an updated status of ‘Oplan Double Barrel Alpha’, the anti-drug operation of the CPPO.

The operation, Noble said, has visited 242,308 houses which resulted to the surrender of about 49,723 persons in the entire province.

A total of 7,497.34 grams of shabu were confiscated from a total of 928 buy-bust operations, 404 saturation drives, and 99 from search warrants.

Noble, who assumed office last October 3, also added that from January 1 to December 2016, the provincial police have apprehended 1,447 suspected drug pushers, 921 users, 3 planters and 151 wanted persons.

Also last week, Governor Hilario P. Davide III attended the meeting called by President Rodrigo Duterte in Malacañang. President Duterte urged all governors to help amplify the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs.

Provincial Information Officer Jason Monteclar said that the governor, as a show of support to the President’s call, will personally participate in the province’s operation such as ‘Oplan Tokhang’ and ‘Oplan Double Barrel’.

Oplan Doble Barrel Alpha also reported uprooting the operation of 68,188 fully grown stalks of Marijuana with overall value of about P107 million as per report from the Dangerous Drugs Board.

Crime Rate

Reporting on the crime situation of the province, the FBI-trained CPPO head said that in 2016, there’s a significant 5.7 percent drop in crimes as compared to the record in 2015.

Noble said that there’s 31 percent drop on Theft, 37.4 percent on Robbery and 28 percent on Homicide.

Cebu province has 1,066 barangays, 44 towns and seven congressional districts with a total land area of 4,900 sq km.

Scholarship

Vice Governor Magpale told Noble that she considers drafting an ordinance that will provide scholarships to surrenderers such as technical skills or schooling to pursue their studies.

Magpale, however, said that such grant can only be given, provided that they will remain clean of drugs.

“Sir, I already suggested a plan to give the surrenderers a scholarship, give them skills or help them finish their studies provided that they will remain clean of drugs,” said Magpale. (Chad Cordova Bacolod)