Local government and law enforcement officials are pushing for a comprehensive campaign to reduce drug use among Bacolodnons amid the large volumes of illegal drug supply continually recovered by the authorities in highly urbanized Bacolod City.
Operatives of Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) seized several millions of shabu since the start of the year; the latest amounted to P1.7 million yielded by three suspects inside a hotel in Barangay Singcang-Airport on Tuesday, January 21, and also worth P204,000 confiscated from a lone male suspect in the same village yesterday.
From January to December 2024, the BCPO recovered 13,784.739 grams of shabu with a street value of P93.736 million.
In a press briefing yesterday, Colonel Joeresty Coronica, police city director, said that despite the intensified police operations that resulted in the recovery of a huge supply and the arrest of the suspects, illegal drugs continue to enter Bacolod because there is a demand for it.
“Why is there still much supply? Because we have not addressed the demand,” he added.
While Coronica acknowledged the efforts of the City Anti-Drug Abuse Council in the campaign against the proliferation of illegal drugs, he believes the government should institutionalize an anti-drug education program and make the campaign sustainable.
He added that values that would make individuals, especially young people, avoid illegal drugs should start at home and in school, adding that religious groups can also play a role in the anti-drug campaign.
“Even religious groups can help. They can emphasize in preaching the ill effects of illegal drugs,” the BCPO chief said.
In a radio interview, Lt. Colonel Antonio Benitez, chief of the BCPO City Drug Enforcement Unit, said the illegal drug supply in Bacolod is sourced by traders from Luzon, including Metro Manila, through various means such as courier service, trucking service, public transportation and individual travelers.
He expressed hope that drug users will stop their illegal activity, underscoring the harm drugs can cause to a person and their family.
“As long as there is a demand for illegal drugs in the city, the drug peddlers will try to bring in the supply. We need to cut the demand, we need to lessen the demand. Illegal drug personalities will stop doing what they do if there are no buyers,” he added.
During the New Year’s call of the BCPO chief and station commanders with Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez on Tuesday, Coronica presented updates on drug-related cases.
As a response, Benitez suggested conducting a campaign for drug awareness among high school students as a way to lessen the use of illegal drugs among Bacolodnons. (PNA)