Nearly half of W. Visayas villages cleared of illegal drugs

ILOILO CITY — Nearly half of the 4,951 barangays in Western Visayas have either been certified as drug-cleared or drug-unaffected by the Regional Oversight Committee (ROC) since 2018 until March this year, according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) here.

Alex M. Tablate, officer-in-charge of PDEA Western Visayas, said in a phone interview on Thursday that as of March 20, the ROC has already certified 2,120 either as drug-cleared or drug-unaffected.

This year alone, 283 barangays were certified as of end of January 31.

On March 19, he said that 522 barangays again underwent the process of the Barangay Drug Clearing Program (BDCP) and only 393 passed, out of which, 252 were certified as drug cleared while 141 were certified as drug-unaffected barangays.

Of the 393, the highest number of barangays that passed the BDCP came from Antique with 203 while Iloilo has 117; Capiz, 47; Negros Occidental, 22 and Aklan with four villages.

“Comparing this with other regions, we have a positive output,” Tablate said.

Tablate, however, emphasized that even if all barangays of a local government unit (LGU) are processed and cleared, they are still required to establish a Balay Silangan before being declared as drug-cleared or drug-free based on the directive of their national headquarters and the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) Regulation number 2, series of 2018.

“The essence of Balay Silangan is focused on reformation of pushers,” he said, adding that without the facility, the concerns of barangays that are moderately affected or with identified pushers will not be addressed.

Barangays certified as drug-cleared are mostly within the slightly affected category, where the identified surrenderers are mostly drug users.

Tablate said that they looked forward to have another deliberation anytime this second quarter of the year.

The ROC is chaired by the PDEA and the Department of the Interior and Local Government as vice-chair. The members are the Department of Health, Philippine National Police and the concerned local chief executive.