Zafra to Osmeña: Help, instead of singling out ‘drug-infested’ barangays

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña dropping names of barangays supposedly infested with illegal drugs does not sit well with the head of the city’s association of barangays. 

Phillip  Zafra, president of the Association of Barangay Councils, said the mayor should stop singling out these barangays since majority of the 80 barangays in the city are still hounded by the same problem.

Instead, he urged the mayor to assist the barangays in implementing measures against illegal drugs.

“Tanan barangays are still affected. There might be pushers sa laing barangay, mopalit sa other barangay but para nako, naa pa gyo'y mga users. Dili magsige og hingan sa mga barangay nga naa na. Naa na gyud na ang problema kaniadto pa. Magtinabangay ta,” he said.

At several press conferences, Osmeña had said that Pasil, Suba, Ermita, Duljo-Fatima, Lorega-San Miguel, Hipodromo, and Carreta are the barangays badly-hit by the drug problem.

Zafra said barangay officials will be closely coordinating with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and other law enforcers in combating the presence of illegal drugs in their areas of jurisdiction.

“I would like to address this to the mayor directly nga it does not mean nga kon duna pay problema sa druga, wala maglihok ang mga barangay,” he said.

For its part, PDEA-7 has vowed to conduct intensified anti-drug operations against “drug-inflicted” barangays mentioned by Osmeña.

PDEA-7 officer-in-charge Anna Lynn Hernandez said the agency needs the cooperation of the barangay officials to help clear their places of the social menace.

“We will just have to intensify our efforts and to conduct operations in those barangays in order to have them cleared if possible,” Hernandez told The FREEMAN on the sidelines of the third quarterly meeting of the ABC-Cebu City Chapter at Bayfront Hotel yesterday.

At the assembly, she encouraged officials to continuously support the agency in the fight against illegal drugs.

“We cannot win the war against illegal drugs without the help of barangay officials,” she said.

Hernandez said the agency will be also filing charges against officials who will refuse to do their duties and responsibilities in relation to the anti-drug campaign.

She, however, said maximum tolerance will be observed towards barangay officials, saying they should act as partners of law enforcers as much as possible.

At the moment, PDEA and Cebu City government are working on the possible declaration of Barangay Bonbon as the first drug-free barangay in the city.

Though date of declaration could not yet be divulged, Hernandez said Bonbon has passed the parameters for an area to be declared as drug-free, including the absence of drug shipment, transshipment; absence of drug pushers; absence of drug users; absence of laboratory; absence of financiers, absence of protectors, absence of plantation, and active participation of the local government unit concerned. (FREEMAN)