LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — The Pangasinan Police Provincial Office (PPPO) succeeded in meeting its self-imposed deadline to make the whole province 100 percent drug-cleared before the end of 2017.
This was disclosed on Friday by Chief Inspector Norman Florentino, head of the Police Community Relations of PPPO, who said San Carlos City and San Fabian became the latest of the 47 towns and cities in Pangasinan that were already cleared of drugs by the police.
Barangay Tandoc in San Carlos City and Aramal in San Fabian were actually the last of the 1,271 drug-affected barangays, from among the 1,364 barangays in the province, already cleared by the police of illegal drugs.
The clearing of the two barangays enabled PPPO to meet its target to have all 47 towns and cities in Pangasinan cleared of drugs this year, said Florentino.
Excluded in the list is the town of Sto. Tomas which is the only one in Pangasinan considered as drug-unaffected.
Florentino said 13 of these towns and city were already validated by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) while nine others were newly submitted for validation.
Those submitted recently for validation are Bayambang, Mangatarem, Rosales, San Manuel, Bautista, Binalonan, Bugallon, Calasiao and Lingayen.
Already declared drug-free by PDEA are 623 barangays in 13 towns and one city in Pangasinan namely, Laoac, Agno, Anda, Dasol, Burgos, Mabini, Natividad, San Nicolas, Alcala, Malasiqui, Sta. Maria, Mapandan, Sto. Tomas and Alaminos City.
The drug-cleared towns will still undergo validation by PDEA and the Regional Oversight Committee (ROC) composed of the Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Health and other government agencies and if their documents are complete, they will be declared drug-free.
(PNA)