Police defends creation of anti-drug groups in 3 villages
Police authorities have defended the creation of task groups in the three drug-affected villages in Iloilo City after the move was questioned by barangay official for lack of consultation.
The Police Regional Office 6, together with the Iloilo City Police Office, first created the Task Force Bakhaw to stop the proliferation of illegal drugs in Bakhaw village in Mandurriao district.
Last Sunday, Chief Supt. Cipriano Querol Jr., PRO6 director, and Senior Supt. Dennis Basngi, ICPO director, led a consultation in barangays Malipayon and Tanza-Esperanza, the two other drug-affected villages in the City Proper district.
Querol then announced that the police will also establish a sub-task group on anti-illegal drugs in the two villages.
Basngi said the group, headed by Supt. Graciano Zapanta, is composed of 45 personnel coming from the Regional Public Safety Battalion, the Iloilo City Public Safety Company, and Police Station 1.
Village councilman Manny de la Cruz, however, questioned the creation of the sub-task group without consulting the persons who will be directly affected by its operations.
However, Querol said the police could address the people’s concerns if
ever serious drug-related crimes will happen.
Basngi, for his part, said he sees nothing wrong in the creation of the sub-task group on illegal drugs because it is an inherent power of the state to create a group to deal with peace and order situations.
Following the creation of Task Force Bakhaw, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 6 said drug pushers in the area have started to relocate their operations in other villages.
The nearby barangays of Simon Ledesma, Boulevard, Habog-habog, Tanza Baybay, and Desamparados have been identified as their possible new hideouts.
Villages in the waterfront area such as Monica and Veterans Village are also probable areas where drug pushers have shifted their operations, the PDEA 6 said.*
