The Regional Oversight Committee recently declared 34 out of Iloilo City’s 180 barangays “drug-cleared” with 26 joining the earlier named eight neighborhoods.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Region VI (PDEA-6) chairs the committee which is also composed of representatives from the Philippine National Police, Department of Health, Department of the Interior and Local Government, and various local government units.
In order to earn the declaration, the Dangerous Drugs Board notes a said community must be without an illegal drugs supply; transit or trans-shipment activity; laboratories; clandestine chemical warehouses; marijuana cultivation sites; drug dens, dives, or resorts; drug pushers, users, or dependents; and drug protectors, coddlers, or financiers.
Among the recently-declared barangays, the City Proper district boasted eight neighborhoods, while seven were cleaned in the Mandurriao district.
Earlier this month, PDEA revealed two Bacolod City barangays were declared “drug-cleared.”
“The Bacolod City barangays were identified as Barangays 33 and 37,” said Executive Assistant Sammy Montoyo, who serves as city drug abuse coordinator.
He added, with the two named barangays, the city now has a total of seven drug-cleared barangays./WDJ