BCPO DRIVE IN CLEARING VILLAGES OF DRUGS 'POOR'

SENIOR Supt. Felix Muchada, deputy regional director for Administration,
disclosed the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) is among the three police
offices in Western Visayas with the 'poorest performance' in clearing
barangays considered as drug-affected.

Muchada said in an interview in Iloilo that "latest information revealed by
PRO-6 said Bacolod City belongs to the three police offices with poorest
performance in the campaign against drugs; Capiz rates lowest while Iloilo
City Police Office (ICPO) ranks second to the last."

Muchada said the Bacolod City police' performance in clearing the
drug-affected barangays has not been intensified.

He advised the Bacolod City anti-drug agents to focus their campaign in the
barangays.

Ironically, Muchada said the BCPO ranked first in the apprehension of drug
pushers and users including those in the police order of battle. The Negros
Occidental Provincial Police Office (Noppo) ranked second.

Muchada, on the other hand, lauded the BCPO personnel for their non-stop
apprehensions in waging the war against illegal drugs.

Supt. Edgar Esparagoza, deputy city police director, said they accomplished
87 percent in their three-month anti-illegal drug campaign, which ends Tuesday.

He said Barangay 2 cannot yet be declared as drug-free although it could be
categorized only as a "threatened" village by illegal drugs from being
"seriously-affected."

For the month of August, the Bacolod police conducted 39 drug operations
resulting to the arrest of 50 persons and the filing of 39 cases.

Four of the 61 villages in the city are categorized as seriously affected,
namely, Barangays 2, 8, 22 and 27.

Threatened by drugs are Barangays 1, 3, 4, 16, 17, 20, 21, 29, 30, 36, 38,
41, Granada, Handumanan, Punta Taytay, Singcang-Airport, Sum-ag, Tangub and
Villamonte.

Insp. Jonathan Lorilla, Drug Enforcement Unit chief, said their drug
operations are continuous.

He said they will further intensify their monitoring of illegal drug hot
spots especially during the MassKara celebration next month.

Bacolod City Mayor Luzviminda Valdez, on the other hand, still believes
that the Bacolod police' performance against illegal drugs is laudable.