BIG HAUL. NCRPO chief Maj. Gen. Jonnel Estomo (right) presents the NCRPO's accomplishments in the campaign against illegal drugs at the NCRPO headquarters in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City on Monday (Dec. 12, 2022). He said the operations from Dec. 3 to 9 led to the seizure of 5,790.35 grams of shabu, and 2,074.32 grams of marijuana with an estimated value of PHP39.6 million. (Photo courtesy of NCRPO)
MANILA – Operatives of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) confiscated over PHP39 million worth of illegal drugs as a result of "one-time, big-time”'(OTBT) operations from Dec. 3 to 9.
The NCRPO covers five districts -- the Manila Police District (MPD), Quezon City Police District (QCPD), Northern Police District (NPD), Southern Police District (SPD) and Eastern Police District (EPD).
NCRPO chief Maj. Gen. Jonnel Estomo presented this accomplishment in a press briefing at its headquarters in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City on Monday to the members of the media, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr., Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Moro Virgilio Lazo.
Estomo said the operatives conducted 300 operations, which resulted in the arrest of 516 suspects, including 18 high-value targets and the filing of 357 cases.
He said the operations led to the seizure of 5,790.35 grams of shabu, and 2,074.32 grams of marijuana with an estimated value of PHP39.6 million.
The SPD topped the list in terms of the value of seized illegal drugs at PHP28.1 million with 151 arrested suspects.
Estomo said the NCRPO supports the DILG’s "Buhay Ingatan, Droga'y Ayawan" (BIDA) program which aims to effectively reduce the demand for illegal drugs through collective action that is grassroots-focused and targets both prevention and rehabilitation by promoting anti-drug education at every level, from national programs to barangay activities and school events.
The BIDA program is a nationwide anti-illegal drugs advocacy involving local government units, national government agencies, and other key sectors of society that will focus more on drug demand reduction and rehabilitation in the communities coupled with arrests.
With 236,083 baseline data in 2016 and 90,582 harmonized drug surrenderers' data, Estomo said the NCRPO launched a recovery and wellness program where 13,804 already graduated while 4,403 out of the remaining 76,778 are expected to graduate in January next year.
Partnered with a parish community-based rehabilitation program dubbed as “Sanlakbay”, the NCRPO aims to strengthen cooperation with this pastoral accompaniment program for drug dependents toward healing, recovery and restoration.
Under these programs, enrolled drug dependents undergo spiritual and value formation, one-on-one, and group counseling sessions, skills training, livelihood opportunities, and sports, art, and culture development to transform lives, restore human dignity and finally reintegrate drug dependents into their communities.
Meanwhile, a total of 26,544 out of the 42,046 barangays have been declared drug-cleared, 6,525 were drug unaffected/drug-free, and 8,977 have yet to be cleared of illegal drugs.
“This war against drugs is not a joke, our enemy is a different kind of people, so it is a big thing that our helpers are the people here, while the police force, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) is the other law enforcement agency are doing their job, that we really want to expand, so help us up to the barangay level,” Abalos said in a presser.
Meanwhile, Azurin said that while the police force is busy with efforts on drug supply and demand reduction through law enforcement operations, they are also in need of volunteers who want to be rehabilitated by the government with the help of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) and Department of Health (DOH).
He thanked the DOH for initiating with the volunteers so that they can have a real cleansing with the hope that they will not go back to their illegal drug vice.
“Kailangan ay may teamwork nang sa ganon ay nararamdaman ng taongbayan ang kampanya natin laban sa ilegal na droga… teamwork in the sense na hindi lamang yung law enforcement but we encourage the public to denounce itong mga nagbebenta at gumagamit ng ilegal na droga (There needs to be teamwork so that the people will feel our campaign against illegal drugs... teamwork in the sense that not only law enforcement but we encourage the public to denounce these sellers and users of illegal drugs),” Azurin said.
Abalos also vowed to fight against corruption through the massive internal cleansing program being implemented by the PNP to eliminate all erring cops and scalawags.
“Sa mga scalawags, tumigil na kayo, sa mga susunod na araw mayroon kaming ginagawa ukol dito, yung nangyari sa PDEA katulad ng sinabi ko walang perpektong organisasyon pero we are open to cleanse our own ranks. Asahan nyo we will go after them (To the scalawags, stop now, in the next few days we are doing something about this, what happened with PDEA, like I said there is no perfect organization but we are open to cleanse our own ranks. Expect that we will go after them),” Abalos said.
This came after two PDEA agents and a district office chief were recently arrested in a buy-bust in Taguig City right at their office.
This prompted the city government to withdraw its support to PDEA and demanded it to vacate the building it has received from the city in 2018. (PNA)
