Baleros: Watch list personalities dropped from 1,172 to 75

During the recent Provincial Peace and Order Council meeting, the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOPPO) presented their accomplishments in the ongoing war on drugs.

NOPPO director, Police Colonel Romeo Baleros, offered a number of statistics, noting, of the 11,807 reported drug users across the province, 11,290 have surrendered; along with there being 75 drug personalities on watch lists currently at-large, a massive decrease from the initial 1,172 recorded.

He also noted, the locality with the most personalities on a watch list is San Carlos City with 11.

In terms of the number of barangays currently drug-affected, Baleros said 495 out of a total 600 barangays remain affected.

The NOPPO official also discussed internal affairs, noting, between the second semester of 2016 through 2017, a total of 80 police officials were found to be linked with illegal drugs. Last year, an additional eight were identified.

As of last month, Baleros said their total drug haul is valued at P747,724.25./WDJ