Baguio City – The Cordillera Regional Peace and Order Council (CRPOC) approved the Anti-Marijuana campaign as a flagship program to eradicate marijuana plant cultivation and to prevent it from reaching the other parts of the region.
Regional Director of Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Cordillera and Head Secretariat of CRPOC Araceli San Jose suggested during the CRPOC second quarter meeting that the Anti-Marijuana campaign should be included in the 2022-2025 flagship program of the council so that they can focus on and develop plans and strategies to suppress the plant cultivation in potential growing areas.
CRPOC Chairman and Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong also supported the proposal noting that the council needs to orchestrate a permanent solution to get rid of marijuana cultivation in the Cordillera and provide solutions and livelihood to those communities that will be affected by the program.
Magalong also lauded the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Cordillera for being relentless in its anti-illegal drug and marijuana operations
Based on the latest data of PDEA Cordillera, authorities have seized a total of PHP485.36 million worth of narcotics across the region including marijuana.
It can be recalled that the anti-illegal drug campaign is one of the flagship programs of the Duterte Administration.
Meanwhile, Tinglayan Municipal Mayor Sacrament Gumilab thanked the CRPOC for its move to include the anti-marijuana campaign as one of its flagship programs.
“I am very happy, the RPOC recognizes the need to sit together and develop a comprehensive plan to identify the root causes and formulate solutions to address the problem,” Gumilab said.
The vast area of marijuana plantation in the Cordillera is located in Tinglayan. (Joseph Manzano with reports from DILG CAR, photo courtesy of PROCOR)