ZAMBOANGA CITY: Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agents and policemen arrested two drug couriers Tuesday and seized P3.4 million worth of suspected shabu. Chief Supt Emmanuel Luis D. Licup said the operation took place at around 4:20 p.m. in Zaragoza St. in Barangay Zone 4. Licup identified the suspects as Sarah Abdulgafur Sawajaan 36, married, jobless, and a resident of Barangay Rio Hondo and Fatima Amirul Sahidan, 40, widow, and a resident of Kalingalang Kaluang, Sulu. Confiscated from them were 10 large sachets of suspected shabu weighing more or less 500 grams with an estimated street value of P3.4 million and 700,000 in bogus money with one original P1,000 bill, according to Licup. The confiscated items and the suspects were brought to PDEA-9 for laboratory examination and for filing of appropriate charges in court. Licup also lauded the operating units of PDEA-9 and Zamboanga City Police Office under Sr. Supt Thomas Joseph Marthir. (Nonoy E. Lacson)
BUTUAN CITY: The Department of Agriculture (DA) has turned over P9.6 million worth of Farm-to-Market Road (FMR) of Purok 7 to Purok 4 Pigdaulan Road Section to the city government of Butuan. DA 13 regional spokesperson Emmylou T. Presilda said the concrete road from the agency’s Farm-to-Market Road Development Program (FMRDP) covers 423 hectares of the service area and would benefit 445 farmers in the locality. DA’s regional validation team records that there are 327 hectares of rice, 50 hectares of coconut, and 46 hectares of banana areas that the project will serve, she added. “Our barangay is vastly an agricultural area. Interventions like this encourage the residents here, especially the farmers, to be more productive,” said Barangay Captain Dindo Hidalgo. Hidalgo said the farm areas of Pigdaulan were less utilized and some areas were just filled with grass. “Residents have started to utilize their areas, they’re now planting different high-value crops since most of the roads are already concreted and it’s now easy to bring their products to the market,” he added. (Mike Crismundo)
TAGBILARAN CITY: The Bohol provincial government is keen on setting up a hotline where citizens can provide information to law enforcement forces and other government agencies that can help prevent or respond to security threats.Last Tuesday, Task Force Dagon convened a workshop where one of the issues discussed was the idea of a hotline. Provincial Administrator Alfonso Damalerio II said the hotline is a “proactive step” of the Provincial Peace and Order Council to avoid potential threats, harassment, the use of private armed groups (PAGs) and other threats, especially during the election period. Damalerio said the hotline will feature a quick response unit (QRU) to address or respond to any kind of threat or complaint. Task Force Dagon is a peace and order task force composed of different sectors and government agencies. It has sub-groups handling peace and order, drug abuse prevention, environmental protection, among others. (Dave Albarado)
BENGUET: Combined elements of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and Police Regional Office-Cordillera have destroyed P2.5 million worth of marijuana plants in Benguet and Mountain Province. Chief Supt. Rolando Nana, regional director, said the operation took place on Jan. 18 and involved more or less 12,800 fully grown marijuana plants in Kibungan, Benguet. He said, the illegal plants were found in four different plantation sites covering an estimated land area of 1,600 square meters in Sitio Batangan, Tacadang Kibungan Benguet located in the boundaries of Benguet, La Union and Ilocos Sur. Police also uprooted 110 fully grown marijuana plants with an estimate Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) value of P22,000 in Barangay Sadsadan, Bauko, Mountain Province. (Zaldy Comanda)
