• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency yesterday declared all 23 barangays of EB Magalona in Negros Occidental as “drug cleared.”
This was after the remaining two barangays, Alicante and Poblacion 3, were both declared yesterday as drug cleared by PDEA, during its deliberations on August 31, a statement from the EB Magalona Public Information Office said.
In a statement, Mayor Marvin Malacon yesterday commended the EB Magalona Police Station, PDEA, municipal and barangay officials, MADAC (Municipal Anti-Drug Abuse Council), DILG, BADAC (Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council), Sangguniang Kabataan councils, Municipal Health Office, MSWDO, other agencies and sectors, for closely working together to make the 23 barangays cleared from illegal drugs, “thereby making our community a safer place to live, work, and do business in.”
The announcement was made on Aug. 31 by PDEA-6 during the online deliberation on the Barangay Drug-Clearing Program by the 49th Regional Oversight Committee (ROC), attended by Mayor Malacon, town police headed by PMaj. Kenneth Jay Gratones, EB Magalona DILG chief, Atty. Pierra Fuentespina Lamayo, and barangay captains Rolando Banasig and Leah Ruiz.
“Our tasks in illegal drug campaign are not yet finished. In fact, it is just the beginning of a campaign to sustain the gain so painstakingly pursued,” Gratones said.*
