DRUG-CLEARED. Thessa Albaño-Tiuzen (top, third from left), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Central Visayas Deputy Regional Director, presides over a meeting of the Regional Oversight Committee on Barangay Drug Clearing Program (ROC-BDCP) in Cebu City on Tuesday (Oct. 29, 2019). Tiuzen said the ROC-BDCP has declared 36 barangays in Region 7 as "drug-cleared". (Photo from PDEA-7 Facebook page)
CEBU CITY – A regional body tasked to oversee the government’s drug-clearing program has declared 36 villages in Central Visayas as “drug cleared”.
Thessa Albaño-Tiuzen, deputy regional director of PDEA-7, said the Regional Oversight Committee on Barangay Drug Clearing Program (ROC-BDCP) met on Tuesday (Oct. 29) to evaluate the application of 44 barangays in Region 7 that applied for the status.
“A total of 44 barangays were deliberated on by the Committee, but only 36 successfully passed the process. The candidates were represented by their mayors, MADAC (municipal anti-drug abuse councils) focal persons, MHOs (municipal health officers), and COPs (chiefs of police),” read the PDEA-7 statement posted on its social media account.
Tiuzen said the committee declared 15 barangays in Cebu, 17 in Bohol and four in Negros Oriental as drug-cleared.
Tiuzen presided over the meeting as chair of ROC-BDCP in the region. Representatives from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG-7), Police Regional Office (PRO-7) and Department of Health (DOH-7) attended the meeting.
The PDEA-7 statement said the 44 barangays were subjected to a thorough on-site validation conducted by the representatives of the ROC-BDCP.
“The validation included on-site checking of documents and interview with members of the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils, city or municipal LGOOs (local government operations officer, local PNP (Philippine National Police), and city or municipal health officers, especially concerning the monitoring of drug personalities in their area and their anti-illegal drug efforts,” it said.
The oversight committee on drug clearing program for the barangays is mandated under Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) Regulation No. 3 series of 2017 to “be responsible in declaring a barangay as “drug-free” after satisfying all the parameters of drug-cleared barangay”.
The DDB issuance also tasked the committee to “ensure sustainability of the program and status of drug-cleared or unaffected barangays” through the conduct of monitoring of anti-drug initiatives of all local government units, as well as investigate villages found having drug-related activities.
Villages declared as “drug-cleared” but were found later with illegal drug activities would be given 30 days “to take appropriation action” and failure shall be a ground for the oversight committee to declare them again as “drug affected barangay”.
“Pursuant to DDB Regulation No. 3, Series of 2017, BDCP is designed to capacitate the barangays in effectively addressing the drug problem in their areas with the assistance of government agencies such as PDEA, DILG, PNP, and DOH,” Tiuzen said. (PNA)
