The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency is set to establish provincial offices to intensify its campaign against illegal drugs.
This was bared by PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino in a media briefing on Tuesday.
Aquino said the establishment of provincial office means deployment of more personnel who will lead the fight against illegal drugs especially in drug-affected provinces.
“Magdadagdag siguro ako ng isang para-enhance ang aming (I will add one team to enhance our) capabilities in terms of operations,” he said.
He said that there are less anti-illegal drugs operations in the provinces because they lack personnel for their operation.
Aquino cited the situation of Compostela Valley Provincial Drug Enforcement Office (CVPDEO) which has only five personnel but the ‘drug affectation is very high’ in the whole region.
“If you will see the list drug affected barangay, Compostela Valley province ranks the highest yet we have only five PDEA operatives in the area,” he said.
He also bared that the PDEA will purchase around 120 Narcotics Detection Dog that will be used in their operations.
“We will enhance our K9 units and we will provide maybe five or 10 narcotics dog here in region 11,” he said.
Aquino said this is part of their drug-free Philippines campaign before the term of President Rodrigo R. Duterte ends in 2022.
Also, he also said the PDEA vowed to clear all barangays in the country that are affected with illegal drugs.
Aquino said that on the national level, we still have about 24,000 barangays to be cleared out of the 29,000 barangays affected.
“We need to clear that within four year so that before the president will step down in 2022 we can create a drug-free Philippines,” he said.
Aquino said that so far, their agency has declared more than 5,000 drug-free barangays for the past two years.
This is now a big challenge for us because we have clear about 5,000 to 6,000 barangays,” he said.
