PRO-CAR SCOUT TRAINEES BURN P54M WORTH OF MJ

THE Cordillera Police Regional Office, headed by regional director Chief
Supt. George Aliño, struck another blow on illegal drug trafficking last
week when trainees of the PRO-CAR Special Counter-Insurgency Operation Unit
Training (Scout) discovered several patches of marijuana plantations during
their test mission in Tinoc, Ifugao.

A report from the PRO-CAR Tactical Operation Center yesterday said the
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 with an estimated value of
P54.72 million in the illegal market 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.

Earlier, Aliño said the United States Drug Enforcement Agency has been
tapped to help the Philippine government get rid of vast marijuana
plantations, especially in the region, through the provision of satellite
cellphones and global positioning system (GPS) equipment to local police.

"One of the problems being encountered by our anti-drug law enforcers is the
lack of communication equipment. Bukod sa bulubundukin ang Cordillera, wala
pang signal sa bundok," he explained.

This developed after the Narcotics group 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.

Aliño, on the other hand, said that making the Cordillera region a
marijuana-free zone is one of his flagship programs.

"I know this sounds impossible but I am confident that this can be realized
with the strong support of other agencies," he stressed.

The Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Task Forces and the 14th Regional
Anti-Narcotics Group already uprooted and burned some P300 million worth of
marijuana in the first quarter of this year compared to the P256 million
worth of MJ destroyed the whole of 2001.

"This shows that we are dead serious in our campaign against marijuana and
all forms of illegal drugs in the region," Aliño said.

Meanwhile, yesterday's report also said that as the Scouts were proceeding
to their Advance Command Post (ACP) at Camp Dennis Molintas in Buguias,
Benguet, they chanced upon a pile of illegally sawn pine lumber in a
forested area in barangay Lamayan, Buguias. The lumber with an estimated
volume of 1,200 board feet were hauled to the ACP for proper disposition.