MANILA, (PIA) -- Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo M. Año over the weekend cited that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s bid to curb criminality and illegal drugs in the country has been relentless and has sustained big gains along the way, down to the grassroots level.
During the pre-State of the Nation Address (SONA) forum of the Participatory Governance Cluster, Secretary Año said the system to combat criminality has been institutionalized to help ensure its continuation even if a new administration takes over next year.
“We have institutionalized our campaign through our peace and order council in the local government units as well as the formation of anti-drug abuse councils from provinces down to the barangay," he said.
"We conduct an annual audit on their functions and likewise out of the 42,000 plus barangays nationwide, 41,950 or about 99.69 percent have organized Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils. Because of that, out of this 42,000 plus barangays, about 21,891 barangays have been cleared from illegal drugs,” he added.
The DILG chief emphasized that the government's efforts led to the arrest of over 289,000 drug personalities including over 12,000 high-value targets.
“We have destroyed 757 drug dens and laboratories. It has a direct effect on peace order and out of these operations against illegal drugs, we have confiscated a total of P59.14 billion worth of shabu, cocaine, marijuana and other illegal drug substances," he said.
"It caused also the surrender of about 1.3 million all over the country,” he added.
Año also noted that the country’s peace and order situation has dramatically gained the much needed ground.
“From the second semester of 2016, we have a crime volume of 292,589. This decreased to 193,103 in the first semester of 2021. So this means the peace and order situation improved,” Año said.
Citing the 2020 Global Law and Order Report by international analytics firm Gallup, Año said the Philippines barged into the top 50 safest countries in the world.
The Philippines obtained a rating of 84 — tied with Australia, New Zealand, Poland and Serbia which is slightly higher than the country’s 82 index score for the world in 2019 by the global analytics firm.
“In Southeast Asia, we are ranked at number four. Number one is Singapore. Our campaign will be continuous and every week, [we] submitted reports to the President and hope the citizens will continue to support our campaign against illegal drugs,” Año said. (PIA-NCR)
