By JEN BAYLON
The Bacolod City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU) is still investigating information regarding the involvement of some barangay officials in illegal drug operations in the city.
In a radio interview yesterday, CDEU chief Lt. Colonel Antonio Benitez, Jr. said some of their data dates back to 2016, which is why it is necessary to investigate whether some officials are still considered illegal drug personalities.
This comes after the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) revealed that there are barangay officials who are considered drug protectors.
Based on CDEU records, a barangay official had already undergone drug rehabilitation to remove his name from the list of suspected officials.
An interagency coordination of the CDEU is still ongoing to prove their involvement in the drug trade.
Benitez explained that another agency has the mandate to approach those involved because the BCPO will only monitor, validate and verify them.
Meanwhile, the City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (CADAC) said if the village officials are found to be involved in illegal drugs, they will refer them for rehabilitation, counseling and other necessary interventions.
Earlier, BCPO director, Colonel Joeresty Coronica, said some village officials in the city served as protectors of illegal drugs by failing to submit lists of the drug personalities within their barangays.
They are not consistent with their lists, as some drug personalities being monitored by the BCPO are not included, he said.
“The officials should have active support to address the illegal problems,” he said, adding they have a big role in addressing illegal drug operations within their villages.
Coronica said the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council has to identify drug personalities in their barangays; then the list will be submitted to CADAC.
Furthermore, the BCPO did not consider the recent seizure of large volumes of illegal drugs in Bacolod as alarming.
Coronica said Bacolod is the center of trade and transactions, and it is a transshipment point.
“It doesn’t mean that drugs recovered here will be consumed by drug personalities in Bacolod alone … They will be distributed [and consumed] somewhere else,” Coronica said./JB, WDJ