ILOILO CITY, Aug 8 -- The Iloilo city government is moving all its resources to completely eradicate the illegal drugs problem in this city.
Lawyer Mark Piad, spokesperson of Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, said Tuesday that the city government has started a scheme of reimbursing the expenses of law enforcement agencies, particularly the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agencies (PDEA)-6 used in successful buy-bust operations and surveillance activities.
Piad said the mayor initiated the reimbursement scheme “for in the past, the PDEA and PNP were handicapped by their limited funds to use as a buy-bust money because they are usually kept for safekeeping.”
Meanwhile, the mayor on Monday called on barangay officials in this city to seriously make President Duterte’s war against illegal drugs a “top priority”.
“Nagapanawagan ta sa mga barangay ( I called on the barangays) to put this campaign on illegal drugs top priority. We’re already putting some pressures on them so I hope they could already receive the signal that we are serious in telling them that this should be top priority,” Mabilog said.
Citing police data, Mabilog said more than 300 drug personalities were arrested in buy bust operations.
“We will not let our guards down,” Mabilog said, and reiterated that war against drugs is a priority of the city government as well as ICPO and PDEA.
The Office of the Mayor, in coordination with Liga ng mga Barangay-Iloilo City, ICPO and PDEA, has been assisting the barangays in meeting the documentary requirements for the 180 barangays to be declared drug-cleared or drug-free.
Since July 2016, the city government dispensed various support to boost the campaign against illegal drugs, both addressing the “supply” and “demand” components of the illegal drugs trade.
Nearly two months after the President waged the war against drugs, the city government set up a community-based rehabilitation center dubbed Crossroads.
The more or less PHP7-million program has paved the way for the rehabilitation of “mild” drug dependents who surrendered to the police on the height of "Oplan Tokhang" and "Oplan Double Barrel".
To date, two batches of drug dependents completed the program and are undergoing preparations for the free technical-vocational trainings and employment opportunities to be facilitated by the Public Employment Service Office (PESO).
Pabilona, in an interview over Pro JED radio program of the Iloilo City government, lauded Mabilog’s positive response to the war on drugs.
“City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog responded positively to the depiction of Iloilo City as the most ‘shabulized’ city by mounting a sustained effort to combat illegal drugs,” Pabilona said.
Pabilona said his agency has noted a sharp decline in the number of drug personalities in Iloilo City since he took over last year.
In addition, he said the “drug drug supply is much less” compared to last year. “There are still arrests, but these have become fewer and fewer,” he said.
Pabilona also said it is important that PDEA reduces the drugs trade in Iloilo City because it is “the center of gravity” for narcotics.
“Once we succeed in neutralizing the illegal drugs business in the city, everything else will follow,” he said. (Maricyn A. De los Santos/PNA)
