EDITORIAL – Drug-free barangays?

Local government units and police units whose area of jurisdiction has been cleared from illegal drug trade but later turned out to have drug personalities can face charges, according to an official of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

PDEA Director General Wilkins Villanueva warned that there will be charges if proven that LGUs and police rushed the drug-free declaration. He was recently in Cebu to lecture policemen on the drug clearing process during a gathering.

Chief Superintendent Debold Sinas, PRO-7 regional director, earlier said there is a need to revisit the status of more than a hundred barangays in Central Visayas that have been declared free from illegal drugs.

However, is there really such a thing as a drug-free barangay? Well, strictly speaking, it’s really hard to determine if an area the authorities declared drug-free, following their thorough monitoring, is really free from the presence of drugs.

How sure are the police and the local government unit that an area declared free from drugs will remain forever exempted from such a menace? This is a serious concern that they need to look into considering the fact that in a barangay declared drug-free, it’s really hard to monitor people going in and out.

If a barangay that is confirmed drug-free would later turn out having pushers and dealers, then why declare it free from the menace in the first place? A declaration is really useless if authorities cannot sustain it.

The authorities should not waste their time giving drug-free status to barangays that meet with their criteria. While it motivates barangays to heighten their campaign, such will not really work because you cannot really stamp out a problem that is always recurring.

If authorities cannot sustain it, then there’s no reason for them to continue the drug-free practice declaration. Ridding the barangay of illegal drugs entails a massive drive and requires no certificate declaring victory because the enemy will always have the opportunity to return.