ILOILO CITY – – The island province of Guimaras remains as transshipment point of illegal drugs, the Police Regional Office in Western Visayas (PRO-6) said Monday.
Chief Supt. John Bulalacao, Regional Director of PRO-6, said they have been receiving reports that Guimaras is still a transshipment point, considering that it is near to both islands of Panay and Negros.
Bulalacao, however, noted that the local government unit of the province and the residents in the island are in denial of this reality because a good number of barangays (villages) have been cleared of illegal drugs.
“Now, there are positive operations there,” he said.
One of the recent incidents happened last September 30 after the Joint operatives of the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU)-6 and the Municipal Police Station of Buenavista, Guimaras Police Provincial Office, and the Provincial DEU held a buy-bust operation in Barangay Santo Rosario in Buenavista, Guimaras that resulted in the death of drug suspect Jose Solon.
The suspect was listed as level 2 high-value target by the RDEU-6 and identified as the downline of suspected drug lord Melvin Odicta Sr.
Police also suspected that Solon sourced his illegal drug supplies from the cities of Bacolod and Iloilo.
As much as they want to stop the illegal drug activities in the island, Bulalacao recognized that they lack control of the borders of the island.
“We do not have water assets who will conduct patrolling in the area,” he said.
“Anytime, people can enter the island unnoticed because no one is safeguarding the area there,” he added.
This limitation is also the same even in ports, Bulalacao said.
“Supposedly there should be a maritime group there and coast guard. That is one of the reasons why we find it hard to control the borders,” he said.
However, Bulalacao said they are mulling to bring “new breed” of police officers in Guimaras to strengthen their campaign against illegal drugs because the existing personnel there are “complacent to the idea that the barangays are drug-cleared.”
“We are already on the process of reevaluating their performance and soon, we will be coming up with chiefs of police and even provincial directors that should be removed because of poor performance,” he said.
Early this July, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 6 also confirmed that Guimaras remains a transshipment point of illegal drugs between the islands of Negros and Panay, particularly Iloilo.
Last June, only the province of Guimaras has zero accomplishment on illegal drugs operations.
However, Guimaras police director, Senior Supt. Julio Gustilo, said the zero accomplishment was due to the fact that high-value targets have left the island. (Cindy Ferrer/PNA)
