LUNA, Apayao—The Cordillera Regional Peace and Order Council requested the regional office of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to correct the report of its central office that pinpointed Baguio City as a marijuana producer.
The resolution requesting the PDEA-CAR to immediately rectify the report was unanimously approved by the RPOC-CAR during the joint meeting of the region’s peace and order council and the Regional Development Council hosted by the provincial government of Apayao here Thursday.
PDEA-CAR assistant regional director Allan Lloyd Lleaño belied reports that the regional office had provided the information to its central office that Baguio is a producer of marijuana. He said he will refer the RPOC’s request to higher authorities for them to correct the report being provided to key local officials from different parts of the country.
Baguio Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan, who chairs both the RPOC and RDC in the Cordillera, said he was surprised to learn about the PDEA central office report that his city has been tagged as a marijuana producer during their Luzon RDC meeting held in Manila last month, reason why the PDEA-CAR should initiate the appropriate steps to correct the said report.
Domogan admitted that if the PDEA central office report pointed to Baguio City as a transshipment of marijuana from the marijuana-producing communities in some parts of Benguet, Kalinga, Mountain Province and Ifugao, then it would have been acceptable on his part “because the city is really the transshipment area of marijuana being supplied to the lowlands and shabu from the lowlands being brought to the different parts of the region.”
PDEA-CAR officials claimed the primary sources of shabu being circulated regionwide is from Cavite, the National Capital Region, and even from the National Bilibid Prison.
Domogan expressed optimism that the PDEA central office will be immediately corrected to prevent creating a bad image for the city among those who will be able to get hold of the report, which will greatly affect Baguio’s image from other local officials in the different parts of the archipelago.
According to him, there is nothing wrong with Baguio being listed as a transshipment area for marijuana and shabu because it is what is happening, although government agencies and local officials are addressing the problem and contributing to efforts to curb illegal drugs in the city.
The RPOC-CAR also requested the regional PDEA to extract the necessary information from arrested drug users and pushers the sources of their supply, so they could closely coordinate with their counterparts in the identified source of the illegal drugs, and possibly neutralize those involved in illegal drugs.
He also underscored the importance of the active participation of parents, who are the first teachers of their children to teach their siblings with the proper values and continue to personally look after the development of their children.
Domogan hoped the children would not be influenced by bad peers that will eventually compromise their supposed bright future once they will be enticed to be involved in the use of illegal drugs and other related illegal activities.