SURRENDER OF PUSHERS WON'T SOLVE DRUG WOES

POLICE on Thursday said the recent mass surrender of drug pushers and users
in Davao is not a solution to the city's worsening drug problem.

Chief Insp. Matthew Baccay, San Pedro police chief, said the voluntary
surrender of drug pushers and users maybe a good sign but it is not a
guarantee that they would stay "clean" in the future.

"In a way that's nice. But with my experience in Toril (Baccay's former
assignment) there were surrenderees, yet they still continue their drug
pushing activities," Baccay said.

As of Thursday, a total of 43 drug pushers and users have voluntarily
surrendered to Davao City police following a series of executions allegedly
perpetrated by the shadowy anti-drug vigilante group, Davao Death Squad (DDS).

Chief Insp. Leonardo Felonia, chief of the Sasa police, earlier said the
mass surrender of suspected drug users and pushers in his area of
responsibility (AOR) is in line with their intensified campaign against
illegal drugs.

He said the surrenderees' names would be recorded in the police logbook for
future references. They were released later and warned that they will be
continuously monitored to ensure they will not go back to using or pushing
illegal drugs.

Baccay, for his part, urged drug pushers and users on their watch list to
surrender. He said that a total of 112 drug users and 65 pushers are on the
watch list submitted by barangay officials under their area of
responsibility (AOR).

Most of the drug suspects, he said, are "istambays," including a son of a
lady doctor residing along Legaspi Street.

Threatened

He added that most of the barangays that submitted a drug watch list are
classified as threatened areas, where not more than 1 percent of its
residents, but not less than five, are drug pushers.

The two other classifications of drug-affected barangays are: serious --
where 2.5 percent of residents are into illegal drugs; less serious --
where more than 1 percent of total population are into drugs.

"There is no such thing as drug-free. But within my area all of the
barangays fall under threatened area," Baccay said.

The barangays with the most numbers of pushers and users are barangays 76-A
Bucana and Brgy 19-A Garcia Heights.