ADULTERATED ILLEGAL DRUGS WARNING OUT

Beware Also Of Adulterated Prohibited Drugs.

The warning came from Region 6 police director Rolando Garcia yesterday as
he announced the scarcity and the deteriorating quality of prohibited drugs
in Western Visayas.

With the increase in prices of shabu as result of its scarcity in the
region, Garcia said he received reports that drug dealers are mixing other
chemicals with the prohibited drugs.

"It's very expensive na, and adulterated pa," Garcia said, referring to the
shabu, known as poor man's cocaine.

The Department of Interior and Local Government reported the rise in the
number of drug dependents in the Philippines from an estimated 1.7 million
in the 1990's to 2.2 million nationwide in the year 2000.

Garcia gave an unsolicited advice to drug dependents in Region 6 by asking
them to rise against pushers who sell adulterated shabu to them.

Negros Occidental police director Geary Barias is seeking the intervention
of Garcia in asking the PNP Internal Affairs Service of Police Regional
Office 6 to fast track the resolution of the drug-related cases filed
against six Negrense policemen.

Facing administrative charges after having been found positive for the use
prohibited drugs are SPO1 Vicente Gemoto, PO1 Noel Katague, PO3 Remus
Bayawa, SPO1 Sigmundo Amatoy, PO3 Ariano Marcelino and SPO1 Roberto Salvio.

Barias said the delay in the resolution of the cases against the six
policemen will make their campaign against erring personnel ineffective.

Meanwhile, Garcia claimed that nine out of 10 crime incidents committed in
Western Visayas were solved last year, as indicated by the 90 percent crime
solution efficiency of PRO 6.

At the same time, he added, PRO6 has an average monthly crime rate of 5.2
per 100,000 population, compared to the national average of eight.