THE Philippine National Police Region 4B or Mimaropa, announced that they had arrested 143 drug suspects from January to May 6 this year.
Mimaropa is comprised of the provinces of Oriental and Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan.
Brig. Gen. Joel Doria, director of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 4B noted that according to their data from the PNP Drug-Related Data Integration and Generation System (DRDIGS) of the Regional Operations Division, the PRO Mimaropa had already launched 121 anti-illegal drug operations that resulted in the arrest of 143 drug suspects, yielding a total of 359.94 grams of shabu valued at PHP2,447,605.60 from January to May 6 this year.
Doria also said that the drug suspects are now placed under police custody and will be facing complaints of violations of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 (RA 9165).
“I commend the efforts of our operatives in this successful anti-drug operation. Again, this is an evident manifestation of our unrelenting commitment towards eliminating the illegal drugs problem through the focused police operations in the region.” Doria said in a statement.
With a holistic approach as the new face of the anti-illegal drug campaign of the government, the Philippine National Police (PNP) assured that the police force will remain at the forefront of the national strategy to focus on the demand reduction of illegal drugs in the country.
PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said one of the main targets of the reinforcement and drug education is the youth in a move to cut drug addiction on the young generations and eventually end the cycle of drug dependency.
“Our Chief PNP, General Benjamin Acorda, Jr., has made it clear that the aggressiveness that the PNP employs on enforcement should also be seen in the reinforcement and education. This will be a holistic approach when it comes to reinforcement and education and our main target is the youth in order to show to them the harmful effects of illegal drugs,” Fajardo said,
Fajardo made the statement after President Marcos said there were abuses in the conduct of police operations in the past administration’s drug war—which resulted in the death of more than 6,000 people, most of them drug users and street-level pushers.
Catherine R. Cueto
