Trial courts urged to decide on pending drug cases in WV
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 6 has called on the courts to resolve the pending drug cases regionwide.
Paul Ledesma, PDEA-6 officer-in-charge, said the number of drug cases pending in courts are increasing every year that they are asking courts to wrap up these cases.
“Sometimes, old drug cases overlap with the new ones. That’s why, some cases lay idle,” he said.
PDEA-6 records show that 2,952 cases are currently pending in various courts in the first quarter of the year.
Of the number, 1,078 are in Bacolod City; 935 in Iloilo City; 344 in Negros Occidental, and 247 in Iloilo province.
Capiz has 158 pending cases; Aklan, 138; Antique, 32; and Guimaras, 20.
Ledesma traced the slow resolution of these cases to the few prosecutors and courts handling drug cases.
“Our anti-drug operations and apprehensions are increasing every month, thus more drug cases are being filed in courts,” he said.
Yesterday, some P5 million worth of illegal drugs from 75 resolved drug cases were destroyed by the PDEA-6.
DRUG-AFFECTED AREAS
In Western Visayas, a total of 4,050 barangays are drug affected, of which 162 are “seriously affected” by illegal drugs.
In Iloilo City, all 180 barangays are considered drug-affected. Six barangays are seriously affected.
PDEA-6 has listed 285 drug personalities and has so far arrested 46.
Ledesma said they hope to lower the number of drug affected barangays before the year ends.
