Police gaining in campaign vs illegal drugs
The Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) is gaining in its war against the use and distribution of illegal drugs in the city based on a two-month assessment.
A report submitted by Senior Supt. Norlito Bautista, Iloilo City Police Office director, showed that ICPO operatives have already arrested 28 suspects; recovered 2.345 grams of marijuana and 134.886 grams of shabu for the months of January and February this year. The report did not contain the names of the suspects.
Bautista, in his report, said "the campaign against illegal drugs is getting headway as manifested by the arrest of several drug personalities and confiscation of illegal drugs amounting to thousands of pesos."
The report said, the intensified demand and supply reduction drive will continue "to make drug personalities to be on the run and that the supply of shabu and marijuana in the city will continue to remain scarce. The prices of shabu and marijuana in the market today have increased significantly, the report said.
The same report reflected that police precincts in City Proper, Jaro, Mandurriao and Arevalo have zero accomplishment relative to the campaign against illegal drugs.
Only the Task Force Bakhaw, Iloilo City Mobile Group, Molo police precinct, La Paz police precinct and Task Force Angel have records of apprehensions.
In the same assessment report, the police have designed several measures to stop the sale and use of illegal drugs in the city. One of the them is the creation of the Task Force Bakhaw and Task Force Angel.
Task Force Bakhaw is named after Barangay Bakhaw in Mandurriao. Bakhaw has been in the priority list of the police and local government because of its illegal drugs problem. While, Task Force Angel was created to take care of the illegal drug problems of Barangay Tanza-Esperanza and Malipayon. However, for almost two months since it was created, the Task Force Angel made only one arrest.
The police have also strengthened the different BADACS in partnership with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). All barangay captains who are reluctant in the campaign against illegal drugs were called by the interior department.