20-K drug users rehabbed in ZamboPeninsula – PDEA9

 By Dominic Sanchez

ZAMBOANGA CITY, February 9 (PIA) – Almost 20,000 former drug users have undergone government intervention and rehabilitation programs in Zamboanga Peninsula, cutting the list of identified drug users from approximately 30,000 to only 10,000, as per data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

“11,756 drug users completed intervention programs through the community-based rehabilitation program, while 7,631 were provided with general intervention. A total of 19,387 former drug users were given appropriate intervention to prevent them from going back to drugs,” said PDEA-9 information officer Darmalyn Jumlail during the Philippine Information Agency’s (PIA) Kapihan na Zamboanga at SM City Mindpro on February 9.

“They have been given a chance for a better life away from drugs, and we hope that the remaining drug dependents will finally submit themselves to rehabilitation rather than be arrested,” she said.

The PDEA and local government units have established several “Bahay Silangan” reformation centers in the region to cater to the growing number of former drug dependents.

Jumlail explained that these milestones were accomplished through the efforts of the concerned government agencies and local government units for the barangay drug clearing operations.

“We have 605 barangays remaining to be drug-cleared. As of date, 1,184 have already been drug-cleared in region 9,” Jumlail said, adding that the government targets a hundred percent accomplishment within the term of President Rodrigo Duterte. “This is solid proof that we are indeed winning the war against illegal drugs.”

Given the restrictions of the pandemic last year, PDEA reported 88 anti-illegal drugs operations, 18 of which resulted to seizing of high volumes of illegal drugs and the arrest of high-value targets. 171 drug personalities were arrested. 1,900 grams of shabu worth roughly P12.9-million and 577 grams of marijuana worth P69,000 were seized.

Meanwhile, continuous validation and assessment of the drug-cleared barangays are being done to make sure that illegal drugs will no longer pose a threat to the communities, Jumlail added. (NBE/DIS/PIA9-Zamboanga City, photo courtesy of PDEA Regional Office 9 Facebook Page)