INTERIOR Secretary Ismael Sueno has expressed hope that by next December, numerous barangay units will be cleared of drug problems, criminality and corruption.
“If this happens, there is no doubt that the smallest [administrative division] of the government will be crime- and -corruption free,” he stressed.
He added: “The purpose is to eliminate drugs, corruption and criminality in the barangays; and to enhance development in all our barangays.”
The Interior Department has formed MASA-MASID [Mamamayang Ayaw Sa Anomalya, Mamamayang Ayaw Sa Iligal na Droga], also known as the “People’s Watch,” where citizens will play a much bigger role in the government’s campaign against illegal drugs.
The program MASA-MASID will try to inculcate the spirit of volunteerism in all the barangays in the Philippines.
Sueno said the national government in general is enjoining everyone to help in the illegal drugs clean-up in the barangay level and witnessing how volunteerism still works.
Sueno also belied insinuations he is in possession of a list of those allegedly involved in the illegal drugs trade in Western Visayas, particulary in Iloilo City, supposedly provided by the slain Melvin Odicta, alias Dragon and his wife Meriam.
The couple are both from Iloilo City and have been linked to illegal drugs trade in Iloilo.
