P84-M worth of marijuana burned

SANTOL, La Union — At least P84 million worth of marijuana plants were uprooted and destroyed during the four-day operation of police personnel from Camp Diego Silang and Camp Oscar Florendo at the tri-boundaries of the provinces of Ilocos Sur, Benguet and La Union.

Senior Superintendent Samuel Diciano, La Union police director, said the discovery of the more than 400,000 fully grown marijuana plants and 100,000 seedlings is the biggest haul among all the operations they have conducted against marijuana.

The plants were found by troops headed by Senior Inspector Eduardo Danguecan, chief of the provincial mobile group, through the help of police assets who conducted surveillance at the boundaries of Sugpon, Ilocos Sur, Kibungan, Benguet and this mountain town of La Union.

Danguecan turned over yesterday to Diciano some of the marijuana plants that were brought down by the operating troops to serve as evidence.

Danguecan, the operation’s commanding officer, led 30 personnel in full battle gear during the operation because of the presence of armed civilians who were reportedly in cahoots with marijuana farmers.

STAR lensman Vic Alhambra Jr. joined the operation that started on Thursday morning and ended Saturday night.

The troops stayed overnight on Thursday at the house of a local resident along the Amburayan River just below Mt. Gorilla and Mt. Palayen, two towering mountains that separate the provinces of Benguet and La Union. The troops also took a rest on Friday night in Tubaday here which is near the area of operation.

The plants were discovered in 10 plantations along the boundary of the remote villages of Licungan, Sugpon, Ilocos Sur and Mukgao, Kibungan, Benguet. The plants were properly cultivated and most of the plantations are in terrain hidden below narrow portions of high mountains covered with vast forest trees.

Sources said an ex-Army man based in Baguio City and an influential person from San Gabriel, La Union involved in the marijuana business, are protecting the marijuana planters. Sources said the two provide rice supply and financial assistance to farmers including garden hoses and fertilizer used in the cultivation.

It was learned that the protectors are also the middlemen who buy the marijuana from the farmers for P700 a kilo and sell them for P3,000 to P5,000 a kilo to their costumers in Baguio City, Manila and Central Luzon.