9 more barangays cleared of drugs

CEBU, Philippines — At least nine barangays add up to the 245 drug-cleared villages in Cebu province.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-7 has reported that there are nine of the 42 "candidate" barangays in the province that earlier applied for the drug clearing status passed the recently-concluded onsite validation.

The PDEA reported the results of the intensive process from onsite validation to deliberation during last week's 2nd Quarter Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council meeting and LGU-ADAC partners' conference.

According to PDEA, two of nine barangays in Carmen, Cebu got the approval for the drug-clearing status.  These are Barangays Lanipga and Lower Natimao-an.

All the three candidate barangays in Danao City – Barangays Baliang, Dungga and Quisol – also passed the onsite validation.

Three of four barangays in Madridejos town also got the drug-cleared tag and these are Barangays Kangwayan, Kodia and Tugas.

Lastly, the sole candidate barangay in Santander town - Barangay Pasil - completes the list.

The PDEA-7 has reported that the other barangays failed the onsite validation because they were not able to submit the lacking documents on or before the scheduled deliberation.

But these barangays can still push again on their request or proposal.

PDEA has announced during the meeting attended by the ADAC officers of the different local government units that these candidate barangays in the towns of Tabuelan, Sogod, Argao, Santa Fe, Bantayan, and Samboan will be prioritized in the next deliberation.

The onsite validation is part of the Barangay Drug Clearing Program, implemented by an inter-agency composed of PDEA; Cebu Provincial Police Office; Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office, among other concerned offices.

The other component of the program is the revalidation of the drug-cleared barangays.

If the onsite validation examines barangays that apply for the drug-cleared status, the revalidation process is conducted to check whether the barangays, which already hold the drug-cleared tag, have maintained or improved in implementing the anti-drug programs; in activating their Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Office (BADAC); and in curbing their drug situation, among others.

All the 245 drug-cleared barangays in Cebu (in 2017 and 2018) were subjected to the revalidation whether they will be revoked or their status would remain.

At present, the PDEA reported that the oversight committee still has no final output since at least 13 barangays are still to be validated. (FREEMAN)