THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency declared on Wednesday Batanes as the country’s first drug-cleared province.
Director General Isidro Lapeña said Batanes, the northernmost province in Cagayan Valley, has passed the parameters of the Dangerous Drugs Board as provided in Section 9 of the DDB Board Regulation No. 3 of 2017, or the “Strengthening the Implementation of the Barnagay Drug Clearing Program.”
A certification that Batanes was drug-free was issued and awarded to Gov. Marilou Cayco and Batanes police’s Sr. Supt Agustin Tamangen.
“After a thorough and rigid scrutiny of the requirements, and verification and validation processes done by the oversight committee on barangay drug clearing operations, headed by its chairperson regional director Laurefel Gabales of PDEA Regional Office II, the province of Batanes was declared drug-free,” Lapeña said.
Batanes has six municipalities—Basco, Sabtang, Uyugan, Ivana, Itbayat and Mahatao with 29 barangays.
“We will make Batanes as a template for all provinces to emulate. Now that the province is free from illegal drug activities, the work does not end here. We need to continuously conduct drug-demand reduction activities in the province, leaving no room for illegal drugs to prevail again,” Lapeña said.
Meanwhile, four barangays in Maguindanao—Talisawa in Adbullah Sanki, Borongotan in Upi, Malamiton in Ampatuan and Idtig in General Salipada Pendatun—have also been declared cleared.
Lapeña said the four barangays were proclaimed drug-cleared after a careful and thorough validation by different government agencies and the oversight committee on barangay drug clearing.