ORMOC CITY, — What happened to the confiscated drugs held by authorities?
The Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) wants to know, and in a meeting held at the city hall here Monday, September 28, jointly with the City Peace and Order Council (CPOC), no less than the RPOC Chairman, Calbayog City Mayor Ronaldo Aquino, posed the question.
Mayor Aquino’s interesting, attention-grabbing query came about after the presentation of the peace and order situation in the region by Police Sr. Supt. Ramil Ramirez, but well before the topic on the regional drug situation by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 8 office.
Apparently, it was addressed to PDEA, and Mayor Aquino premised it on widely-read reports, though unconfirmed and unsubstantiated, alleging that deposited banned drugs found its way sooner into the user-pusher underground community in a recycled manner.
PDEA Regional Director Laurefel Gabales declared that the Courts order his agency to destroy these prohibited drugs, adding that the law invests in them the mandate to carry out such type of destruction.
“The process of destruction is the same as that of apprehension, wherein there will be witnesses, such as the media and barangay officials,” among other stakeholders, Navales explained, implying the impossibility of such talks as market re-sale or re-use.
Navales said he hoped to carry out such act of destruction one day following a Court order, and he will invite all RPOC members to attend.
Ormoc City Mayor Edward Codilla opened the joint CPOC-RPOC meeting with words full of gratitude for the privilege of hosting the event.
He urged all the members and visitors present to continue striving for peace and never lose hope for peace to be achieved, (ajc/PIA8-Southern Leyte)
