New PDEA12 chief assumes post

Valente Fortunato Cariño formally assumed on Wednesday as the new acting director of PDEA-Region 12 based in this city, replacing the relieved former regional chief Gil Cesario Castro. (PNA photo)

GENERAL SANTOS CITY— The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has assigned a new director for Region 12 as part of a regional reshuffle.

Valente Fortunato Cariño formally assumed on Wednesday as the new acting director of PDEA-Region 12 based in this city, replacing the relieved former regional chief Gil Cesario Castro.

Castro, along with nine other agents, were relieved and transferred to their central office in an order dated Nov. 29 issued by PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino.

Prior to his reassignment to the region, Cariño was the deputy regional director of PDEA in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Cariño vowed to continue with the agency’s intensified crackdown in the region against illegal drug groups and alleged “narco-politicians.”

“As your new regional director, expect more arrests of high value targets and the conduct of more high impact operations,” he said during the simple turnover ceremony.

He vowed to pursue closer coordination with local government units and other stakeholders to further strengthen their campaign against illegal drugs.

Castro, who served as regional director for over nine months after assuming last Jan. 17,  urged PDEA-12 personnel to continue their unrelenting stance and remain committed towards the agency’s goals to cleanse local communities of illegal drugs.

He called on local government leaders in the region to give their “all-out support” to the new PDEA-12 leadership.

Under Castro’s leadership, PDEA-12 launched a total of 175 operations that led to the arrest of 261 suspects.

These operations led to the recovery of 3,421.459 grams of shabu, 11,790.21 grams og marijuana and 7,100 hills of uprooted marijuana that were valued at around P22.1 million.

Among those arrested were alleged leaders of major illegal drug groups and local politicians, including a mayor and several barangay chairs, who were supposedly acting as drug protectors.

In October, PDEA agents seized about a kilogram of suspected shabu worth around P5 million, drug paraphernalia, suspected ecstasy, laboratory equipment, assorted firearms, explosives and ammunition in a raid at the house of Maasim Mayor Aniceto Lopez Jr.

The mayor, who was tagged by PDEA-12 as alleged protector of a local terror group and the El Patron Drug Group, was not around during the raid but later surrendered to Senator Emmanuel Pacquiao.