Cops uproot P6 million marijuana

CEBU, Philippines — About 15,000 stalks of fully grown marijuana worth P6 million from three different plantations located at Sitio Manggabon, Barangay Tagba-o, Cebu City were uprooted and eradicated by the Cebu City Mobile Force Company (CCMFC) of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) last Tuesday afternoon.

Robert Alcantara, who is still at large as of this writing, reportedly cultivated these marijuana plantations.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Randy Korret, CCMFC Chief, said the plantations were discovered through information given by the residents in the area to the authorities.

When the elements of CCMFC had discovered the area, they have found out that some bamboo plants were also cultivated there which was meant to cover up for the marijuana plants.

"Kasi doon sa plantation sites, may mga bamboo.  Yon actually yung ginawang cover up nung Marijuana, kaya hindi namin makita sa drone," Korret said.

He added that they were extra careful during their operation upon knowing that the elements of the Cebu Police Provincial Office had previously discovered some traps during their previous operation.

However, Korret personally expressed that the three plantations has different cultivators aside from Alcantara.

In their investigation, they have found out that Alcantara is not a resident of the barangay.

Just this year alone, this has been the biggest haul of marijuana that the elements of CMFC had eradicated.

As the uprooting and eradicating of marijuana has been going on in the mountainous areas in both the Cebu Province and in the city, Korret said that they will be coordinating with the elected officials to cluster the barangays that are close to each other.

The authorities believe that the cultivators would just stop for about two months and would then come back to cultivate another Marijuana plantation in other areas.

"So I think kailangan na i-cluster nila yong mga barangays na magkakadikit dyan para iisa lang yung direksyon na lahat pagbawalan nila," he said.

Korret added that they have coordinated with the advisory council to turn the marijuana plantations to bamboo plantations.

This plantation could well become the source of livelihood among the residents around the area.

Meanwhile, CCPO Director, Police Colonel Engelbert Soriano has thanked the constituents of the barangays for feeding information to the authorities, considering that these plantations were located in secluded areas.

"We will be intensifying our intelligence monitoring, community involvement, hopefully yung sa mga programa natin ngayon ay magiging epektibo," Soriano said.  GAN (FREEMAN)