2,470 drug surrenderees recorded in Baguio City

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan said he was alarmed over the increasing number of drug surrenderees from the city’s 128 barangays, citing the need for a more aggressive campaign to rid the city of illegal drugs.

From July 1 to December 31, 2016, the city recorded some 2,360 drug surrenderees with 1,971 of them users and 389 of them drug pushers.

He noted there were 197 individuals involved in illegal drugs who were arrested during the government’s all-out campaign against prohibited drugs in the city. Of the said number, 175 were said to be drug pushers while 22 were drug users.

“We have still a long way to go in the anti-illegal drug campaign but we are confident that we can rid our city from illegal drugs if there is sustained teamwork and unity among our officials and the people we serve,” Domogan said.

He said the local government has made available the services of the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) to help reform the drug surrenderers to allow them to be able to be brought back to mainstream society and become productive citizens.

According to him, there is a need for the law enforcers, barangay officials, and volunteers to sustain the government’s anti-drug campaign because it has significantly reduced the occurrence of crimes in the whole city over the past several months.

He expressed surprise over the number of individuals in the city who are involved in the illegal drug trade, citing that the government cannot solve the problem alone, thus, the involvement of the people in the barangays to enable the police to neutralize the activities of individuals identified to be involved in the sale and disposal of illegal drugs.

Based on the number of drug surrenderees over the past six months, Domogan agreed with the contention of some sectors that all the city’s 128 barangays were drug affected because of the presence of either drug surrenderees or drug personalities who were arrested in separate drug operations citywide.

Because of increasing number of drug surrenderees the past several weeks due to the government’s intensified anti-drug operations, he claimed there is also a need for concerned sectors in the city to work double time to arrest those who continue to sell and use illegal drugs and defy lawful orders.

He added everyone wants to live in a drug free community thus everyone must be involved in the neutralizing the activities of drug personalities who continue to peddle prohibited drugs.