ONLY FIVE OF BENGUIET’S 140 BARANGAYS ON DRUG WATCHLIST

December 24, 2020 Headlines

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – – The Benguet Provincial Police Office reported that only five out of 140 barangay in the province are still drug affected wherein drug clearing efforts are continuous to hopefully clear of illegal drugs. BPPO Director P/Col.Elmer Ragay said, the five barangays are Balili and Pico in capital town La Trinidad; Badeo and Tacadang in Kibungan and Abatan, Buguias.
“These barangays are moderately affected.” The province has a 13 municipalities composed of 140 barangays.
Ragay said, a total of 1,970 drug personalities have completed their community based rehabilitation while 20 underwent rehabilitation in a facility.
He added that there are still 171 surrenders who are undergoing drug rehabilitation out of the 2,160 drug personalities who surrendered to the government to avail of their assistance for possible reforms. Ragay said the campaign against illegal drugs tops the list of crimes committed during the period at 34 percent or 68 incidents.
The BPPO have filed a total of 228 cases for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the anti illegal drugs law of 2002 involving 335 suspects.
Record shows there were 130 persons convicted, there were 112 accused who availed of the plea bargaining agreement after an order of conviction and 133 others have applied and granted plea bargaining agreement.
There are 98 other accused whose cases are still being heard by the court. A total of P85.19 million worth of illegal drugs were confiscated since January to first week of December, with the arrest of 124 suspects.
There were 84 arrested in buy bust operations and 20 during police patrol activities. Aside from the anti illegal drugs effort, the police in the province recorded a 76.24 percent drop in crime volume in almost nine months from March 16 to Dec. 7. Ragay also said they recorded a total of 315 crimes during the period compared to the 1,326 crimes recorded in the same period last year.
“We associate this to the visibility of our police on the streets that deter people who intend to commit crimes from actually doing the same,” Ragay said. The annual monthly crime rate for the period this year is 7.08 percent or a 23.35 percent drop from last year’s 30.43 percent.
Benguet’s crime solution efficiency increased to 97.78 percent from 81.52 percent last year.
Zaldy Comanda/ABN