Naga drug enforcers capability enhanced
July 4th, 2006
By MON BATURIANO
If GMA is on all-out war with the NPA insurgents, City Hall is hell-bent on eradicating totally the drug menace within the four walls of Naga.
This no-nonsense campaign is further bolstered with the conduct of the Capability Enhancement Seminar last June 30 at the Bicol Science and Technology sponsored by the Naga City Peace and Order Council (NCPOC) through the initiative of the National Bureau of Investigation regional office.
Earlier, the composite NBI RAID team led by Atty. Ric Diaz, regional director of NBI-Bicol, swooped down on the lairs of known big-time drug pushers, the Abagat and Rosales brothers including Chinglo and Jackpot Rosales (the incumbent barangay captain of Balatas), which led to the neutralization of five suspects and the confiscation of 17.7 grams of shabu, paraphernalia and high-tech equipment like surveillance cams, TV monitors, firearms and ammos.
“We have initiated this seminar in order to stop once and for all the cancerous growth of drugs through an idolatrous adherence to the rule of law,” said NBI regional director Ricardo Diaz as he referred to Republic Act 9165, the present legislative enactment against illegal drugs.
Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo, who hosted the seminar, said that “this forum is not only meant to bring together all drug enforcement agencies operating in the city but also provides a venue to take a second look at the drug problem besetting the city.”
According to the mayor, “a lot has been done to combat the proliferation of drug abuse, unfortunately, many of the drug cases went to naught due to failure in the criminal prosecution. This seminar will help finetune the capability of the local anti-drug machinery to enhance its evidence-gathering towards full prosecution and conviction.”
Vice Mayor Gabby Bordado who also sits as vice chair of the Naga City Peace and Order Council welcomed all the participants from various drug enforcement units and called on them to vigorously fight against the “merchants of death who are systematically destroying the very fabric of our society.”
Invited as resource speakers in the seminar were police senior superintendent Darius Tuazon of PDEA-Bicol, Special Investigators Antonio Erum and Joel Otic, drug operatives of RAID (NBI Manila), Naga City Prosecutor Romeo Tayo and defense counsel Atty. Manny Teoxon.
PDEA director Tuazon disclosed in his briefing report that compared to other regions in the country, Bicol’s drug problem is still under control. Shabu remains the major illegal substance of choice among users while marijuana is re-emerging due to scarcity of shabu in some areas.
In Naga City, there were identified 4 drug users and 20 drug pushers and from January to June this year, there were 4 drug users, 5 drug pushers and 4 drug possessors arrested by the police of which 10 cases were already charged for violation of RA 9165.
Overall, PDEA-Bicol seized a total of 350.63 grams of shabu, 12 7 grams of marijuana, 5 grams of marijuana seeds and 5 sticks of marijuana cigarettes amounting to almost P700,000 and the arrest of 87 drug abuse perpetrators of the more than 444 drug personalities already identified as a result of PDEA’s intelligence gathering.
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