Davide dares barangay heads to sustain drug-free distinction

CEBU, Philippines - Now that the province has declared more than a hundred barangays as drug-free communities, the challenge now is how to sustain this distinction, said Governor Hilario Davide III.

In fact, surrenderers in nine of 11 barangays where the oversight committee conducted random drug testing on still turned out to be positive with the use of illegal drugs.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 Director Yogi Filemon L. Ruiz said that letters will be sent to the concerned barangays and they will be given 30 days to conduct intervention, based on the resolution of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), No. 3, Series of 2017.

Davide said during the declaration of 120 barangays to be cleared from drugs, barangay officials were reminded of the consequences if they can’t sustain a drug-free community.

“The barangays knew nga kon masipyat mo, dunay madakpan nga user, pusher, that could be the ground sa revocation sa ilang certificate,” Davide said.

The Cebu Provincial Anti-drug Abuse Office (CPADAO) earlier revealed that 30 percent of the drug surrenderers from the 120 drug-cleared barangays tested positive during the random drug test conducted by their office.

Davide said it’s not easy to eliminate drugs and this is a challenging task for the barangay officials, especially those who have been declared as cleared, on how to maintain the certification.

CPADAO Head Ivy Durano-Meca earlier said that the result of the drug test to the surrenderers shows that barangay official should not relax in its campaign against illegal drugs, especially that they might face administrative charges by the oversight committee if they fail to address or act those surrenderers who turned out to be positive in using illegal drugs.

Ruiz said that the oversight committee, which includes the PDEA, Philippine National Police, Department of Health, the local government units, and Provincial Government, require that these barangays to take action.

"So, naa diri gibutang, in the event there are new reports of any illegal drug activities, status of the concerned cleared barangay shall not automatically be reverted to drug-affected barangay", said Ruiz, citing Section 11 of the said DDB resolution.

He said that these barangays will be given 30 days for them to conduct intervention that includes house visitation, conducting weekly programs and drug test for those drug personalities.

Ruiz said that further non-compliance from the barangays shall be ground for possible administrative case pursuant to section 60 of the Local Government Code and criminal case for violation of Section 32 of Republic Act 9165.

If a barangay loses its drug-free community certification, it would need to go back to the first step in getting back its drug-cleared status. — Le Phyllis F. Antojado, Maria Yula Pasaol (FREEMAN)