Cotabato City mayor expands campaign against illegal drugs

COTABATO CITY --- The city government will crack the whip harder against drug traffickers now that law enforcement agencies have expanded authority to run after them under martial law.Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi and her 37 constituent-barangay captains agreed on Wednesday to maximize their campaign against circulation here of shabu even as more than 200 local peddlers had been arrested in recent months.They also reached a consensus during their meeting to draft maps of all barangays here to hasten the hunt for drug dealers eluding arrest during law enforcement operations and to ease the work of workers engaged in house-to-house socio-economic surveys and census activities.The arrests of drug offenders tagged high value targets in the city in the past 12 months were initiated jointly by the city mayor’s office, the local police, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Army’s 5thSpecial Forces Battalion.Personnel of the 5thSF Battalion are helping guard the 37 barangays here from criminals and terrorists.Guiani-Sayadi said she is confident the barangay captains will achieve major breakthroughs in their domestic pacification campaigns under martial law.She said law-enforcement activities of barangay tanods here are closely coordinated with the police and the military.All of the 37 barangay captains here and their purok leaders are in favor of the extended martial law that President Rodrigo Duterte first declared after the Maute terror group laid siege to Marawi City on May 23, sparking a conflict that has since dragged on.Guiani-Sayadi, chairperson of the city peace and order council, reminded the mayors, in the presence of local police officials, to ensure the visibility of barangay tanods in strategic areas to restrain the movement of drug traffickers.She assured the barangay captains of her advisory support, as a practicing lawyer, if confronted with legal issues in keeping law and order in their respective barangays.Guiani-Sayadi reminded the barangay captains during their meeting to also expand their intelligence operations in support of Malacañang’s war on terror.She said barangay captains should not be complacent with the findings by the police that recorded crimes in the city during the first quarter of 2017 had reduced by 65 percent compared the same period in 2016.Guiani-Sayadi’s peacekeeping initiatives were recognized by the Police Regional Office-12 by enlisting her recently to PRO-12’s inter-agency Regional Advisory Council.