P5M-worth of MJ Bricks Seized In Kalinga Sting Operation

August 15, 2020 JUST IN

BAGUIO CITY (August 15, 2020) –  A large volume of dried marijuana leaves, already compacted into bricks and tubular forms, were seized Saturday afternoon

in front of the St. Williams Cathedral in Bulanao Centro, Tabuk City, Kalinga.

Illegal drug traders that included a woman —  Mercedes Macaiba,  Julius Bagtang and Gilbert Bagtang —   will be facing drug trade violations after they were caught by Cordillera and Central Luzon Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agents aided by Cordillera policemen selling 31 bricks and 10 tubular dried marijuana leaves, stalks and fruiting tops, all wrapped in transparent plastic.

PDEA-Cordillera director Gil Castro said the drug haul came from Tinglayan town and was due to be brought to Metro Manila.

On Thursday morning, joint PDEA and Kalinga policemen also overran another 5,000 square meter marijuana plantation in barangay Loccong, also in Tinglayan.

Cordillera police director Brig. Gen. RWin Pagkalinawan said some 30,000 fully-grown marijuana plants valued to reach P6 million were uprooted and put ablaze right at the plantation.

This as Pagkalinawan cited successes in the heightening war of the government against illegal drugs, specifically marijuana cultivators and illegal drug personalities in the highland region.  At least 96 percent of all 27 local government units in Abra, Pagkalinawan said, have officially declared marijuana cultivators and drug dealers including users as “persona non grata” while 100 percent of all LGUS in Apayao did the same.  Baguio City (129 barangays), Kalinga (9 towns including Tabuk City), 10 towns including the provincial government of Mt. Province,  all of 13 towns in Benguet and 11 towns in Ifugao also declared illicit marijuana growers and drug traders as unwelcome.

‘Weed Not Just Natural Growths’

Marijuana is done like high-value agriculture, Director Castro of the PDEA-CAR said.

Last week’s another discovery of well-manicured and well-spaced MJ plants along the borders of Kalinga and Mt. Province disputes the claim that the plants grow as wild without human intervention, the official said.

Dir. Castro said while eradication operations are intensifying  an in-depth probe from all possible sources are being undertaken by both PDEA and PNP “to find out who should be held criminally or administratively liable for intentional cultivation.”

Sadanga, Mt. Province Mayor Gabino Ganggangan has also confirmed marijuana plantations along his town’s borders with Tinglayan while pointing out at unscrupulous tribesmen from Buscalan and Bugnay barangays of encroaching into their territories to expand for MJ agriculture because of the thriving illegal weed agriculture.

Earlier in 2018, then Kalinga governor Jocel Baac confirmed the proliferation of illegal marijuana plantations particularly in Tinglayan but cited socio-economic reasons behind such.

The illegal agricultural activity has long been there, Baac then admitted, since the time of Pres. Fidel Ramos as chief of the Philippine Constabulary and police.  “Time pa (nya) sinusunog na yan.”  The former governor cited, “the problem is, everytime they burn or uproot, kumakalat naman ang buto.  Pag umulan, according to residents, tutubo ulit.”

The government should instead provide good roads and irrigation systems in those villages, para ma-convert and mga tao into farming,” Baac then proposed.

Baac however belied that all local villagers within the Mt. Chumanchil complex in Tinglayan, are into marijuana plantations.  “Basta na lang daw tumutubo,” he had said.

Artemio A. Dumlao