GUV TO SURPRISE BRYS WITH 3-STRIKE APPROACH V. DRUGS

BENGUET Gov. Raul Molintas reported Monday that appropriate criminal charges
await barangay chiefs whose areas of jurisdiction will be subjected to at
least three successful anti-drug operations by the police without their
knowledge.

This developed after Molintas, who chairs the Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse
Council, proposed the establishment of a "three-strike system" in the
province wherein appropriate charges will be filed against barangay
officials whose been remiss in their obligation to rid their areas of
illegal drugs, particularly marijuana.

Molintas admitted that marijuana plantation in Benguet and the other three
provinces - Kalinga, Mt. Province, Ifugao - keeps on thriving because it has
become a means of livelihood for some individuals and armed groups.

The governor, however, pointed out the village chiefs are mandated to report
to the authorities such kinds of illicit activities.

To make sure that all the 140 village chiefs in the province are aware of
the programs of PADAC, the provincial government will conduct a Benguet-wide
anti-drug summit involving all the village chief with officials of drug law
enforcement agencies as lecturers.

"The anti-drug summit will be conducted as soon as the winners of the recent
joint barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections take their oaths,"
Molintas told reporters during a press briefing.

The governor, however, was quick to point out that the drug situation in the
province is not really alarming and that Padac is also gaining headway in
its campaign against the proliferation of illegal drugs, saying that Padac
has activated 140 barangay anti-drug councils (Badacs).

The problem lies with the fact that Benguet is bounded by Mt. Province and
Ifugao.

"The drug problem is not alarming. But because of the boundaries, malaki
yong problema on marijuana plantations."

Most of marijuana eradication operations were conducted within these
boundaries.

Asked on why not even a single marijuana cultivator has been apprehended,
Molintas explained that most of the marijuana destroyed were uprooted in
public lands and are located in hard-reached mountainous areas in the
province.

"But if the area where the marijuana plants were uprooted is a private land,
we can easily identify the land owners. Thus, it would be easier for us to
file appropriate charges."

Meanwhile, Molintas Monday handed over a cash reward worth P128,868.75 to a
representative of an informer, codename: Caterpillar - who tipped off the
Benguet Police Provincial Office of the existence of a vast marijuana
plantation, leading to the eradication of around P8 million worth of
marijuana and its derivatives.

Molintas said that the reward system is under the Operation Private Eye
program of national drug law enforcement agencies.

The program offers monetary reward to any individual who successfully gave
authorities information leading to the arrest of a drug pusher or
eradication of vast tract of marijuana plantation.

"With the Private Eye program, we hope that our constituents will be more
active in giving our police the needed information to help eradicate
marijuana plantations in the province," he added.

Sr. Supt. Conrado Miñano Jr, Benguet PPO head, meanwhile, acknowledged the
support of the provincial government in its determined bid to weed out
marijuana plantations in his area of responsibility as well as the
continuous campaign against drugs in the locality.