17 seaports in Western Visayas under tight monitoring – PDEA
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 6 is closely monitoring the 17 seaports in Western Visayas considered as possible entry points of illegal drugs.
Among these are the international ports in Loboc, La Paz in Iloilo City and BREDCO port in Bacolod City.
The Muelley Loney port where vessels plying the Iloilo-Bacolod-Iloilo routes dock and Port San Pedro are also included in PDEA 6’s routine monthly monitoring.
Others are the San Jose port and Lipata port in Culasi, both in Antique; Culasi port in Roxas City; and Dumaguit and Caticlan ports in Aklan.
In Iloilo, PDEA 6 is monitoring the ports of Estancia, Dumangas and Culasi in Ajuy.
The ports in Negros Occidental include the Banago Wharf in Bacolod; San Carlos in San Carlos City; Danao in Escalante City; and the Pulupandan town and Victorias City wharfs.
“Some of these ports are small but there could also be a possibility for them to be used as shipment area,” Paul Ledesma, officer-in-charge of PDEA 6, said.
Ledesma said that illegal drugs continue to be smuggled in the region through air, land and sea by transports coming from Manila, Negros, Cebu, Mindoro, Masbate, Marawi, Ozamis, and Zamboanga.
Illegal drugs from Samar could also be transported to the region if anti-drug operatives are not strictly guarding and conducting inspections both in sea and airports, he said.
Although cocaine is not widely used in Western Visayas, Ledesma said they have monitored some affluent people using the illegal drug.*
