By Zaldy Comanda
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – A total of P21.520 million marijuana plants were uprooted and burned on site by elements of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and Philippine National Police (PNP) in an eradication operation in Barangay Loccong, Tinglayan, Kalinga.
(AFP / MANILA BULLETIN)
PDEA Regional Director Edgar Apalla said five plantation sites, with a total land area of 5,650 square meters, were discovered with about 107,600 fully-grown marijuana plants by anti-narcotics and police operatives on Friday, March 15.
He said, on March 14, joint elements of the PDEA –Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR) provincial offices from Kalinga, Ifugao, Apayao and Mt. Province; and police from Tinglayan and Kalinga traveled up the mountain of Kalinga by foot, and implemented the marijuana eradication mission under PDEA-Cordillera’s Oplan “Linis Barangay”.
Marijuana is the second most abused drugs in the country, and the mountains of Cordillera are among the top cultivation sites for it.
This year, there have been eight marijuana eradication operations conducted by the PDEA and PNP operatives in CAR.