PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) chief, General Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar yesterday ordered the Cordillera Police Regional Office headed by Brigadier Gen. Ronald O. Lee to further intensify their campaign to locate and destroy secret marijuana plantations in the region and arrest the possibility they may be transported to Metro Manila and other urban parts of the country.

Grown abundantly in the cold Cordillera mountain ranges and other parts of Luzon and Mindanao, marijuana, next to shabu is the 2nd most abused drug in the country where it fetches a price of around P5,000 a kilo in the local underground market.

The PNP has launched a massive effort against marijuana to prevent syndicates from flooding the country’s urban areas with the prohibited crops and turn it into an ‘alternative’ for shabu amid the major setbacks suffered recently by Chinese-run syndicates at the hands of the government.

The operations led to the seizure of more than P5.5 billion worth of shabu and the neutralization of a major drug trafficking ring being run by a group of rogue Chinese nationals. Four armed Chinese drug smugglers were killed while seven others, three of them also Chinese nationals were arrested in the series of major anti-narcotics operations in the provinces of Zambales, Bataan and Cavite.

Last week alone, Cordillera police authorities uprooted and destroyed more than P200 million worth of fully-grown marijuana plants and seedlings in several plantation sites in the region. The PNP Drug Enforcement Group headed by Brig. Gen. Remus B. Medina have also joined the PNP’s war on marijuana.

Brig. Gen. Lee said last September 23, his men overrun five clandestine marijuana plantation sites in Mountain Province and Benguet where they uprooted and destroyed an estimated P40 million worth of the banned crops.

The official said that an estimated 152,000 pieces of marijuana plants were found planted in three areas estimated to be more than 1.5-hectares in Sitio Paras, Barangay Saclit in Sadanga municipality.

Brig. Gen. Lee that his men torched the illegal crops valued at nearly P30.4 million on site.

A similar operation in Bgy. Kayapa in Bakun, Benguet and Bgy. Tacadang in Kibungan municipality led to the destruction of nearly P500,000 worth of cannabis plants.

The day before, three marijuana plantation sites in Sitio Loccong in Tinglayan, Kalinga were also discovered by authorities. Nearly P2 million worth of cannabis were burned on site.

Another operation led to the destruction of an estimated P74 million worth of marijuana crops in Mount Chumanchil in Tinglayan.

Brig. Gen. Lee said that four more marijuana plantation sites in the same area were also overrun last Friday leading to the uprooting and destruction of some P3.2 million worth of cannabis.

“These operations are part of our Oplan: Herodotus aimed at searching for and destroying all clandestine marijuana farms in Cordillera region as ordered by Gen. Eleazar,” Lee said.

The Cordillera police were joined by operatives from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the PNP Special Action Force during the conduct of the marijuana eradication drive.

The official said that operations are still underway to identify, arrest and file criminal charges against the maintainers of the marijuana sites.

Marijuana, next to shabu, remains the 2nd most abused drug in The Philippines. Grown abundantly in the cold mountain ranges of Cordillera region, a kilo of marijuana normally fetches a price of P5,000 a kilo in the underground market.

Under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, the cultivation and use of cannabis in the country is illegal. RA 9165 states that the importation, sale, maintenance of a den, dive or resort, manufacture, use, and cultivation of marijuana and marijuana-related products shall be met with life imprisonment and a fine.

From July 1, 2016 to last July 31, the PDEA headed by Director General Wilkins M. Villanueva said that nearly 6.6 tons of dried marijuana leaves have been seized and destroyed by government agents.

RA 9165 refers to cannabis sativa or commonly known as ‘marijuana’ or ‘Indian Hemp.’ Possession of 10 grams or more of marijuana resin or marijuana resin oil or 500 grams of marijuana is considered a non-bailable offense punishable by life imprisonment and a fine ranging from P500,000 to P10 million.

Cultivation or culture of marijuana is also an offense carrying the same penalties.

The law says that the land or portions thereof and/or greenhouses on which any of said plants is cultivated or cultured shall be confiscated and escheated in favor of the State, unless the owner thereof can prove lack of knowledge of such cultivation or culture despite the exercise of due diligence on his/her part.

If the land involved is part of the public domain, the maximum penalty provided for under the law shall be imposed upon the offender. The maximum penalty under RA 9165 shall also be imposed upon any any person, who organizes, manages or acts as a “financier” of marijuana cultivation.

There have been a growing number of marijuana-related arrests in Cordillera and nearby areas as well as Metro Manila since last year as the PNP stepped-up its border patrols and used K-9 teams and intelligence tips to intercept big-time marijuana couriers, mostly coming from Cordillera region.

Since 2016, the Cordillera police, the PDEA and other law enforcement agencies have conducted more than 1,000 marijuana eradication operations which led in the destruction of hundreds of cannabis plantation sites.