CEBU CITY—Twenty-seven barangays and one municipality in Region 7 have been declared as drug-cleared.
The 28 areas earned the drug-cleared status after their applications were deliberated on from Feb. 28 to March 1.
The deliberation was facilitated by the members of the Regional Oversight Committee on Barangay Drug Clearing (ROCBDC), which is headed by Levi S. Ortiz, regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Central Visayas (PDEA 7) and chairman of the committee.
The ROCBDC is composed of PDEA as chair, and representatives from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) as vice chair and Department of Health (DOH), Philippine National Police (PNP), and the local government units as members.
Of the 27 barangays, 16 were from Cebu province, five from Negros Oriental, five from Bohol and one from Mandaue City.
Poro, a town in Camotes Island, was the first municipality in the region to apply for the status as a drug-cleared municipality.
During the deliberation, the candidate local government units presented their efforts and best practices in the implementation of the Barangay Drug Clearing Program (BDCP), which is designed to help barangays become drug-resistant and self-policing.
“We commend our candidates for persevering in their application for the drug-cleared status. Despite the challenges we encountered in the region, especially with Typhoon Odette and the surge in Covid-19 cases in previous months, they still ensured the effective implementation of their respective anti-illegal drug programs,” Dir. Ortiz said.
“We also celebrate the declaration of the Municipality of Poro, in Cebu, as the first drug-cleared municipality in the province. The journey was not easy for them, but they made it,” he added.
Ortiz stressed that under the BDCP, monitoring and validation will continue to ensure that drug-cleared barangays and municipalities are able to sustain their status.
“We again would like to highlight key areas in the process to avoid misconceptions. Before an applicant barangay is granted the drug-cleared status, identified drug personalities must undergo appropriate intervention programs. This includes enrollment to a rehabilitation or reformation program or the conduct of anti-illegal drug operations,” he said.
Once the barangay is declared as drug-cleared, law enforcement efforts will continue to ensure immediate intervention in the event there is a reemergence of illegal drug activities, Ortiz said.