Not over 200 that the PNP identified: Fewer than 50 Cebu brgys are drug-free - CPADAO

CEBU, Philippines - Majority of the barangays in Cebu have failed to meet the criteria set by the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) for them to qualify as a “drug-free” community.

Ivy Durano-Meca, Cebu Provincial Anti-drug Abuse Office (CPADAO) chief, said they have validated 190 of 210 barangays that were earlier declared by the police to be "drug-free" and unfortunately, only few can truly be considered as drug-free.

She, however, did not disclose exactly how many barangays are actually free of illegal drugs, but she hinted that the number would not exceed 50.

She said declaring a barangay drug-free, per DDB guidelines, should be when drugs are no longer available there; it is not being used as a drug transit or transshipment point; it has no illegal drug laboratory, chemical drug warehouse, or a marijuana cultivation site; and it has no resorts or other places being used as drug dens.

Absence of drug pushers, users or dependents as well as of protectors or coddlers and financiers is another consideration before a village can be classified as drug-free.

But, Meca said, there are still barangays that have no anti-drug abuse program or an action plan to combat illegal drugs in the community – a requisite for a barangay to be declared "drug-free."

“To serve as their guide, we provided a checklist to all the barangays based on the three phases DDB set for drug clearing operations. When we did the validation, very few…(met) the parameters set,” she said.

Meca said CPADAO has already submitted a list of validated barangays to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-7.

Once the report is concluded, the governor and officials of PDEA and the Philippine National Police would convene to discuss the declaration.

Under the rules, only the governor has the power to declare a certain local government unit as "drug-free."

Meca, who presented to Governor Hilario Davide III yesterday updates on the drug clearing operations, validation, and the status of the community – based treatment program, said the list of drug-free barangays might be out next week.

The police earlier declared 81 barangays in nine towns –including all 56 villages of the municipalities of San Francisco, Poro, Tudela, and Pilar on Camotes Islands –  as free from illegal substance.

The PNP was supposed to declare another 120 barangays as drug-free communities but was did not push through due to the concern raised by CPADAO.

Meca earlier argued that the PNP only used certifications from the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils and Municipal Anti-Drug Abuse Councils as parameters in declaring these barangays as drug-free.

She reminded that it is the governor that has the authority to make such a declaration and not the police. (FREEMAN)