Mayor Felipe Antonio “Ipe” Remollo directed all employees and officials to undergo random drug tests, in a bid to minimize the influence of illegal drugs at the City Hall.
In line with the ordinance authored by Councilor Lilani Ramon, the city also adopted this as a policy requirement for job applicants to submit to drug tests before they will be hired.
The city has the most number of surrenderers in the anti-drug campaign compared to the five other cities and 19 municipalities in Negros Oriental.
Barangay officials have been tasked to closely monitor the the surrenderers so they can promptly report to the authorities should any of them return to their illegal drug habits.
Dumaguete City Chief of Police Supt. Jovito Atanacio reported that since the launching of Project Double Barrel, 921 illegal drugs personalities, both users and pushers, have surrendered to the police and barangay officials.
Of the 921 surrenderers, 60 are pushers while the remaining 861 are tagged as users.
The police has intensified their barangay visitations (Tapok Hangyo) and Toktok Hangyo (Tokhang) or house-to-house visitations, resulting to the large turnout of surrenderers, who were also profiled.
On the other hand, three of the 30 barangays in the city, namely, Poblacion 4, Poblacion 5, and Poblacion 7 have been declared as Drug-Cleared Barangays after they complied with the parameters set by Section 6 of the Dangerous Drugs Board Regulation No. 3 series of 2017 as evaluated and confirmed by the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Mayor Remollo, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and City Health Office.
Two more barangays, namely Motong and Cantil-e, are currently being evaluated for possible declaration as drug-cleared barangays.
Both Mayor Remollo and Supt. Atanacio are working on the target of clearing 50% or 15 barangays from illegal drugs before the year ends. (jct/PIA7-Negros Oriental)
