By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — More than 12,000 barangays across the country have already been cleared from illegal drugs since the start of the Duterte administration’s crackdown on illegal drugs in 2016, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Tuesday.
During the command conference held in Camp Crame, Maj. Gen. Mao Aplasca, PNP Directorate for Operations, said at least 12,177 out of the 42,045 barangays (villages) in the country have been declared drug-cleared from July 1, 2016 to May 31, 2019.
He said Region 1 (Ilocos Region) has the highest number of drug-cleared barangays with 1,967, followed by Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) with 1,919 and Region 6 (Western Visayas) with 852.
The National Capital Region, (88.69 percent); Region 3 (Central Luzon), 75.50 percent; Region 5 (Bicol Region), 72.89 percent; and Region 7 (Central Visayas), 76.36 percent were the most affected regions by the proliferation of illegal drugs.
Based on PNP data, Aplasca said 1,283,409 drug suspects surrendered, 240,565 individuals were arrested and 6,600 drug suspects died during 153,273 anti-illegal drugs operations in the said period.
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