PDEA-ARMMand 13 more villages declared drug free in Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY – Thirteen more villages in Maguindanao have been declared as drug
free barangays by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-ARMM).

Juvenal
Azurin, PDEA-ARMM regional director, said of the 13, six villages were in
Parang town, four in Barira and three in Pagalungan, all in Maguindanao.

In
Maguindanao’s more than 300 identified drug-infiltrated villages, 159 have been
declared drug free or cleared from illegal drug operations and addiction since
last year, Azurin told reporters.

Three of the 36
Maguindanao towns have been fully cleared that included Mother Kabuntalan (17
villages), Paglat (8) and Mangudadatu (8).

Maguindanao
has 508 villages and more than 300 were earlier listed as drug infiltrated
communities.

Azurin
explained that the process of putting one village as drug free requires three
processes that included identifying slightly affected, moderately affected and
seriously affected.

Slightly
affected means the village has at least one drug user, moderately affected has
at least one user and one pusher, and seriously affected has the presence of
clandestine drug laboratories, drug dens and marijuana plantation sites.

We easily
clear villages under slightly affected categories but take some time in dealing
with moderately and seriously affected areas due to many considerations with
the help of Barangay Anti-Drug Advisory Council, Azurin said.

Our main
objective is to clear all villages in Maguindanao to help meet President
Duterte’s vision of a drug free Philippines by 2021, Azurin said.

For 2018,
PDEA-ARMM eyes clearing 150 villages across the region from illegal drugs.