By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) national headquarters will closely look into the issue of drug smuggling in Negros island following the confiscation of millions of pesos worth of shabu which later turned out to have been smuggled into Negros Occidental via its main ports of entry.

PCG spokesperson Commodore Armand Balilo said most of the intelligence reports they received related to illegal drugs came from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

Balilo said all PCG stations in the country have standing guidelines to strictly implement security measures to prevent the proliferation and transport of illegal drugs, not only in the shipping routes but also in the entire coastline.

“I don’t have the complete details at the BREDCO Port [in Bacolod], but we will look into it,” Balilo said.

When asked for his response over the proposals made by Bacolod City Mayor-elect Alfredo “Albee” Benitez with regards to the installation of body scanners and additional x-ray machines, Balilo noted it would be a big boost to the capabilities of the PCG station in Bacolod.

He pointed out the importance of redundancies in security measures.

He added the PCG would appreciate it very much if the local government units and stakeholders would be more involved.

Earlier in January, the PCG with the assistance of PDEA intercepted a shipment of shabu worth P20.4 million at the BREDCO Port in Bacolod City.

Two months later, a joint operation by the PCG and PDEA at the Escalante City port again resulted in the interception of P34 million worth of shabu, the biggest haul made by law enforcement in Western Visayas in 2022.

Last week, San Carlos City police in Negros Occidental seized P13.6 million worth of shabu during a buy-bust operation in the city’s Barangay Rizal.

All the drugs seized in the three operations later turned out to have originated from outside Western Visayas and were smuggled into the province via the ports in Bacolod City, Escalante City and San Carlos City.

Aside from the ports, it has also been long suspected that the illegal drugs are being smuggled in via the province’s vast coastline./DGB, WDJ