DRUG DESTRUCTION. Lapu-Lapu City Executive Judge Joseph Stephen Ygnacio (left) witnesses the destruction of PHP62.3-million worth of illegal drugs led by PDEA-7 regional director Levi Ortiz (center). Destroyed during the activity on Thursday (Oct. 14, 2021) were more than eight kilograms of shabu, over 177 grams of marijuana and more than 20 milliliters of nubain. (Photo courtesy of PDEA-7)
CEBU CITY – The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-Region 7 (Central Visayas) on Thursday destroyed PHP62.3-million worth of dangerous drugs using a thermal facility of a private funeral parlor here.
Levi Ortiz, PDEA-7 regional director, led other law enforcement agencies in throwing more than eight kilograms of shabu, more than 177 grams of marijuana, and more than 20 milliliters of nubain into the crematory chamber of the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in this city's downtown district.
Ortiz said this is the third destruction of illegal drugs this year, the first being in March and the second in May.
PDEA-7 chief for plans and operations Ferdinand Kintanar said the destroyed drugs included more than four kilos of shabu turned over by the Philippine National Police provincial crime laboratory in Bohol to the anti-drug body’s regional office last September 14.
He said the destruction activity was authorized by the court through an “order of destruction” and a written order by PDEA Director General Wilkins Villanueva.
“We thank the management of Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes Inc. headed by its president, Mr. Renato Dychangco Jr. for offering free use of their thermal facility which has been instrumental to the realization of this activity,” Kintanar said in his welcome message during the ceremony.
He said strictly observing the standards set under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and the Dangerous Drugs Board regulations for destruction of dangerous drugs is a crucial element in upholding the integrity of the anti-illegal drug campaign of the government.
Meanwhile, Lapu-Lapu City Executive Judge Joseph Stephen Ygnacio said the volume of illegal drugs destroyed showed the “gravity and the effects if these are being circulated in public”.
“The volume of these confiscated illegal drugs is a clear manifestation that our law enforcement agencies are fulfilling their respective mandate against illegal drugs in spite of the fact that our country is still under the state of public health emergency bought about by the coronavirus disease pandemic,” Ygnacio said. (PNA)
