Bgy chiefs join CAR PNP war vs marijuana sites
BARANGAY captains in Cordillera have joined the local police in its continuing efforts to destroy all marijuana plantation sites in the region, the Journal Group learned on Monday.
“We are thankful that we are getting the much-needed support from barangay captains and their men in our intensified search-and-destroy effort against all secret marijuana cultivation sites in the region,” said Cordillera Police Regional Office director, Brigadier General Ronald O. Lee.
The official said that barangay officials have joined them in their latest marijuana eradication drive in Kibungan and Bakun municipalities in Benguet which led to the uprooting and destruction of more than P1 million worth of fully grown cannabis plants and seedlings.
Brig. Gen. Lee said the prohibited crops were discovered growing in eight uninhabited sites in Sitios Aat-tog and Tableo in Barangay Badeo in Kibungan and in Sitios Tammangan, Lubban and Legab in Bgy. Kayapa in Bakun municipality.
In a report to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, General Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar, the official said he crops were destroyed by members of the Benguet Police Provincial Office’s 1st Provincial Mobile Force Company and the Kibungan and Bakun Municipal Police Stations.
Lee cited the help they got from Bgy. Badeo chairman Guilbert Amango in destroying more than P100,000 worth of marijuana in Sitio Aat-tog and Tableo.
He said that local barangay authorities also supported their operations in Bgy. Kayapa where nearly P800,000 worth of fully-grown marijuana crops were uprooted and destroyed on site.
“We discovered the clandestine marijuana plantation sites following continuing monitoring of our men with the help of local barangay officials,” said Brig. Gen. Lee.
Another five-day operation in Tinglayan, Kalinga last week also resulted to the destruction of an estimated P24 million worth of fully-grown marijuana plants and seedlings.
The Cordillera police director said the prohibited crops were found in three plantation sites in Mount Chumanchil in Bgy. Loccong, Tinglayan.
Brig. Gen. Lee said that members of the Cordillera police force, Kalinga Police Provincial Office, PNP Special Action Force, the Army’s 50th Infantry Battalion and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) were involved in the marijuana eradication drive which started last October 16 and ended 10 a.m. Wednesday.
The official said uprooted at the first site were some 25,000 pieces of cannabis valued at P5 million while around P1 million worth of marijuana were found at the 2nd site.
The 3rd site yielded some 60,000 pieces of marijuana plants worth P12 million. Brig. Gen. Lee said that also discovered in the area were an estimated 45 kilograms of dried marijuana leaves worth P5.4 million in the underground market.
Lee said that the uprooted marijuana crops and the recovered dried leaves were burned on site. However, no arrests were made during the recent operations.
