ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN HEIGHTENS AS FESTIVAL NEARS

POLICE regional director George Alino said their intensified campaign
against illegal drugs in Negros Occidental is a priority, especially
with the forthcoming 25th MassKara Festival in October.

"I am anticipating the increase of supply of drugs during the
MassKara," Alino said during Saturday's Tri-Media Orientation on Oplan
Panawagan and Emergency Medical First Responder Course in Bacolod City.

He ordered police city director Vicente Ponteras to continue shaping
up the City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation Task Group and the
city police Intelligence and Investigation Branch.

Ponteras earlier said that barangays 2, 3, 22, 27, 8, Punta Taytay and
Handumanan are Bacolod's "seriously drug-affected" villages that they
intend to neutralize before December.

"We will seriously campaign for this. I want that Bacolenos celebrate
the spirit of MassKara without getting into drugs," Alino said.

He also said they are doubling their efforts to clear the remaining
110 out of 500 barangays in the region before December.

"I am happy of the performance of BCPO in drug apprehension. BCPO
consistently topped the drug performance evaluation in the whole
region," Alino said.

Senior Supt. Lazaro Torcita, head of the regional Philippine Drug
Enforcement Agency, revealed that the drug trade in the region has
become a family business.

Torcita cited the case of arrested suspected drug lord in Western
Visayas Jose "Kim" Cuadra whose family members reportedly are also
into illegal drug trading.

The lack of stable jobs among the youth force them to use or sell
illegal drugs.