SUAL, Pangasinan — Governor Amado Espino III assured President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday that the province of Pangasinan will be drug-free before the year ends.
Speaking during the ceremonial send off at Sual Wharf on Wednesday of the five Vietnamese fishermen apprehended for poaching within Philippine waters last September 23, Governor Espino expressed confidence that Pangasinan, comprising 44 towns and four cities, will be drug-free before the end of the year.
President Duterte arrived in Pangasinan to send off the five Vietnamese fishermen back to their country, similar to what he did here on November 2 last year to 17 other Vietnamese fishermen also found poaching in waters near Ilocos Norte.
In his speech at the event, the governor assured the continuing all-out support of Pangasinan to President Duterte’s war on illegal drugs.
He also said the Pangasinan police is likewise optimistic that before the year ends, Pangasinan will be “100 percent drug-free.”
Based on the latest official report from the Pangasinan provincial police, 99 percent of its 1,259 drug-affected barangays are already cleared of illegal substances.
There are now only four barangays in San Fabian and San Carlos City which are still considered drug-affected.
Espino also reported to the President that Pangasinan was among the first local government units in the entire country to conduct mandatory random drug testing among its over 4,000 workers sometime in August last year in response to the Chief Executive’s war against illegal drugs.
At the same time, the provincial government is now building a drug rehabilitation center for drug surrenderers who are not heavy users, on a donated land in Barangay San Vicente, Burgos.
In the same forum, Mayor Roberto Arcinue said Sual, the location of a 1,200 megawatt coal-fired power plant being operated by Team Energy, is now also drug-free based on the report of the police.
Governor Espino also thanked the President for the support of the national government through the Department of Agriculture to Pangasinan’s agriculture.
This support, he said, enabled Pangasinan to win many national awards, the latest of which was the Quality Corn Achievement’s Award which it received four times in a row. (PNA)
