PNP DESTROY P94M WORTH OF MARIJUANA IN 2 WEEKS

ABOUT P94 million worth of marijuana in the region were destroyed by local
police in less than two weeks confirming earlier reports that almost 70
percent of this prohibited plant came from the Cordillera, notably the
province of Ifugao.

This developed after a P40 million worth of marijuana were destroyed
jointly by elements of the Ifugao Provincial Police Office Intelligence and
Investigation Section, the Regional Anti-Narcotics Office 14, the Lagawe,
Lamut and Kiangan Municipal Police Stations and the Ifugao Provincial
Mobile Group in an eradication operation on June 6.

Late last month, trainees of the PRO-CAR Special Counter-Insurgency
Operation Unit Training (SCOUT) also discovered several patches of
marijuana plantations during their test mission in Tinoc, Ifugao worth
P54.72 million in the illegal market.

The latest marijuana eradication operation was conducted at sitio Ihogwas,
Barangay North Cababuyan in the town of Hingyon, Ifugao. The operation was
led by Chief Inspector Mario Buyuccan, chief of the Intelligence and
Investigation section of the Ifugao Provincial Police Office.

The operation was conducted in a two-hectare plantation which was thickly
planted with marijuana. The operatives uprooted about 18,000 fully grown
marijuana plants, 8,000 marijuana seedlings and about 20,000 newly sprouted
marijuana plants in several seedbeds in the area, according to the report
from the office of PRO-CAR regional director Chief Supt. George Alino.

Most of the plants were burned on site, while samples were brought to the
Ifugao PPO headquarters, where a ceremonial burning was also done in the
presence of National Police Commission regional director Edmundo Fernandez
and some of his personnel who were then conducting an inspection of Ifugao
police facilities and programs and projects. Local officials were also
present during the ceremonial burning.

The report said there were no arrests made at the plantation as no
suspected cultivator was found in the area during the raid.

Earlier, PRO-CAR Tactical Operation Center said SCOUT trainees led by
elements of the Regional Mobile Group headed by Supt. Donato Bacquian
chanced upon the clandestine plantations in sitios Guinsadan, Tuplac and
Panoliban in Barangay Ahin and sitios Telep and Ambulaga in barangay
Tulludan, all in the remote municipality of Tinoc.

A total of 273,720 fully grown marijuana plants were uprooted and burned on
site, the report said, adding that the burning of the marijuana plants were
witnessed by barangay officials and residents. The report also said that
the illicit plants were grown in about 2.286 hectares of land.

The operatives also recovered two caliber .38 revolvers with live
ammunitions from a hut within the plantation discovered in sitio Guinsadan.
No suspected cultivators were arrested as no one was found in the
plantations at the time of their discovery.

The Narcotics group had reported that about 70 percent of the total
marijuana supply in the Philippines are produced and clandestinely shipped
from the region, particularly from Mountain Province, Ifugao, Kalinga and
Benguet.

The bulk of marijuana produce in the region is then being supplied to the
international market by a still unidentified Chinese syndicate believed to
have links with the notorious international drug triads.

"The marijuana issue in the Cordillera region is not a local or a national
problem. It is an international problem, which needs an international
response," Nargroup said.

Alino, on the other hand, has vowed to make the Cordillera region a
marijuana-free zone. " I know this sounds impossible but I am confident
that this can be realized with the strong support of other agencies."