Sustain antidrug drive, Iloilo governor urges police

Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr.

ILOILO – “There shall be no letup in the campaign against illegal drugs.”

This was what Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. told the Iloilo Police Provincial Office in light of information that a new drug group is operating in Western Visayas.

“Indi na untatan kag indi paghalogan. Nonstop ang kampanya against illegal drugs,” the governor told a recent news conference.

The Police Regional Office 6 was still verifying the information pertaining to the alleged new drug group, spokeswoman Superintendent Joem Malong had said.

Defensor said the information could be true, considering the “vacuum” created by the deaths of drug lords Melvin “Boyet” Odicta Sr. and Richard “Buang” Prevendido.

“Wala [na] sang hari-hari (There is no kingpin anymore),” the governor told the press on Aug. 30.

“Illegal drugs is a very lucrative business, kadali mag–manggaranon, so indi na mahimu nga waay sang mabulos ukon magtilaw [bulos].”

Two years into the war on drugs that started when Rodrigo Duterte occupied the presidency in 2016, the police continued to arrest suspected drug users and dealers.

The Iloilo police have conducted 54 antidrug operations that resulted in the arrest of 76 people from January to June this year.

But this was fewer that the 118 operations during the same period in 2017, based on the IPPO’s accomplishment report.

Senior Superintendent Marlon Tayaba, provincial police director, regularly provides the capitol with these data, Defensor said.

Moreover, 17 police stations in the province had “zero accomplishment” in the antidrug campaign from Dec. 5, 2017 to June 2018, IPPO data showed.

Most of these stations said the supply of drugs in their localities is already “limited” or they have no more active drug users or pushers since the government launched the drug war, Tayaba said.

SOURCE: Panay News

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