Cops, narcs unite to fight drug menace in Normin

By Lito Rulona, Correspondent

The Police Regional Office-10 (Pro-10) and the Philippine Drug Enforce-ment Agency – 10 (PDEA-10) has forged an agree-ment to mobilize a joint effort in crushing down the drug menace in Northern Mindanao.

PRO-10 Regional Diector P/Chief Supt. Lyn-del Desquitado over the weekend said they had forged an agreement with PDEA-10 regional director Wilkins M. Villanueva for joint effort after a drug evaluation consisting five provinces in the region.

“A joint workshop was also conducted in every province and citie to map out plans and action against the proliferation of illegal drugs in the region. The first leg was conducted among police provincial and municipal police stations within Misamis Oriental, Camiguin and Cagayan de Oro,” he said.

The second leg was also done in the areas of Misa-mis Occidental, Oroqueta, Iligan City and Lanao del Norte. The last leg was also done in the province of Bukidnon. The objective of the validation workshop is to align all targets munici-palities, cities and provinces in validating different affected barangays.

Under the forged agree-ment, the PNP will support the Anti-Drug Abuse Council (ADAC) in clearing of drug affected barangays by focusing on the neutra-lization of street level drug users and pushers and include in the Automated Fingerprint Identification System or AFIS the ten-prints of arrested drug suspects on PDEA-initiated operations.

The PDEA, on the other hand shall provide the general supervision over the implementation of Baran-gay Clearing Operations, assist in educating the PNP personnel on the provisions of Republic Act 9165 and orient them on the system of operations of PDEA and allocate slots in training on Narcotics and illegal drug courses offered by PDEA Academy.

Earlier, PDEA Regional Director Wilkins M. Villa-nueva briefed the legislative body on the drug situation in the city and nationwide during his courtesy call. He explained how the drug trade works and cited the need to address the pro-blem by focusing on the drug users.

According to PDEA, out of the 80 barangays in the city, 38 are affected by the drug trade. One baran-gay is slightly affected having at least one user, 20 baangays moderately affected with the presence of one pusher and 11 are seriously affected having drug dens.

“Karon makapahigayon na kita og full joint opera-tion against those target personalities. Kinahanglan gyud ang joint effort be-cause until now medyo duna gyu’y kakulangon ang personnel sa PDEA to handle the task,” Desquita-do said.