QUEZON City Mayor Herbert Bautista called on the Dangerous Drugs Board to change its policies in determining the degree of the drug problem in a specific barangay, saying its current parameters “are no longer realistic,” especially in thickly populated areas.
Bautista’s call came days after Quezon City Police District director Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar and Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte declared Damar, West Triangle, Blue Ridge B, Libis, Quirino 3B, Mangga, Valencia, Horseshoe and Kalusugan as drug-cleared villages.
Belmonte earlier said the Quezon City Anti-Drug Abuse Advisory Council under her watch came up with the expanded parameters with help from the DDB, QCPD, the Department of the Interior and Local Government-National Capital Region, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Liga ng mga Barangay, Ugnayan ng Barangay at mga Simbahan, and Mamamayang Ayaw sa Iligal na Droga to identify drug-free villages.
But as far as Bautista is concerned, there is a need to change the parameters.
Citing Barangay Batasan Hills with a population of at least 250,000, he asked: “Does it mean to say that if there is one drug suspect there, the place is already drug-affected?”
“We should have a clear-cut policy so that those not included in the list (of drug-cleared barangays) would not experience stigma,” he said.
Should there be changes in the DDB’s policy, Bautista said he expects the number of drug-affected barangays to go down.
He ordered Eleazar to continue to intensify the police drive against all forms of criminality, especially on illegal drugs and gun-for-hire syndicates.
“We should be serious especially in our anti-drug campaign since we want to make Quezon City the showcase for Metro Manila when it comes to peace and order,” he said.