The Bacolod City Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) conducted a two-day training for Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils (BADACs) on the barangay drug-clearing program, which closed yesterday at the Middle Town Inn.

DILG-Bacolod Director Ma. Joy Maredith Madayag hopes the training provided barangay officials with a better capacity and more dedication in fighting illegal drugs.

Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia also spoke during the event and challenged barangay officials to make their respective jurisdictions free of drugs.

Earlier this year, the Negros Occidental DILG said they would file administrative charges against barangay captains who failed to submit lists of drug users, peddlers, and protectors operating within their communities.

According to DILG records at the time, 12,000 of the 42,000 barangays nationwide have no functioning BADAC./WDJ