61 CORDI BRGYS AFFECTED BY DRUGS

BENGUET -- At least 61 barangays in the Cordilleras have been classified as
'drug-affected' and 41 barangays as 'shabu-affected,' records released by
the Police Regional Office in the Cordilleras (PRO-CAR) showed.

The drug situation report also disclosed that there are at least 148 drug
personalities operating in the region and are believed to have direct links
with crime syndicates involved in illegal drug shipments.

Under the category of shabu-affected barangays, Chief Supt. Victor Luga,
PRO-CAR director, reported that Abra province has the highest number at 25
followed by Baguio with five, four barangays each in Benguet and Kalinga
and three in the province of Apayao.

Luga, on the other hand, reported that Ifugao has the highest 'seriously
marijuana-affected barangays' with 17 followed by Kalinga with three.

The PRO-CAR report, however, noted no drug-affected barangay in Mt.
Province even as police earlier conducted several anti-marijuana
eradication operations in the province's peripheries.

Luga also stressed that marijuana remains to be the most pervasive drug,
considering that Cordillera remains as the number one source of the illicit
plant, reportedly supplying 70 percent of the total marijuana produce in
the country.

PRO-CAR operatives, in close coordination with the regional Philippine Drug
Enforcement Agency (PDEA-CAR), also conducted 37 anti-illegal drugs
operations from January to May this year, resulting in the seizure of some
P103-million worth of marijuana and its derivatives as well as P26, 480
worth of shabu.

Some 43 cases for violation of the Comprehensive Anti-Drug Law were also
filed, resulting to seven convictions and four dismissals due to lack of
sufficient evidences.

Luga, on the other hand, reported that PRO-CAR has doubled its effort in
identifying marijuana plantations in the region.

He also earlier launched Implan Sang-Banat, a massive anti-drugs campaign
aimed at eradicating, once and for all, the worsening drug menace in the
region. The program complements the national government's revived bid to
solve the drug problem in the country.