TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan (PIA) - - With the intensified 'war on drugs' campaign, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 2 was able to clear 83% of the identified drug-affected baragays in the Cagayan Valley Region. 

Regional Director Joel B. Plaza said that of the 2,311 identified barangays with drug presence, 1,930 were already cleared in collaboration with various law enforcement agencies, anti-drug abuse councils, and the members of the barangay drug clearing program. 

He said that there are remaining 381 affected barangays, or 16 percent, that are now being assisted and assessed to be declared as drug-cleared soon. 

Plaza said that among the provinces, Quirino is fully cleared. On the other hand, there were two barangays remaining in Batanes that are still affected, 204 in Cagayan, 96 in Isabela, 66 in Nueva Vizcaya, and 13 in Santiago City. 

On the estbalishment of the "Balay Silangan", which is one of the requirements to declare a municipliaty of city as drug-cleared, there were already 27 established, wherein 11 are located in Isabela, nine in Cagayan, five in Nueva Vizcaya, and one each in Quirino province and Santiago City. 

"There are 32 ongoing reformists in the different "Balay Silangan" in the region, while we already have 476 graduate reformists who now reintegrated in their respective communities," Plaza said. 

Plaza is hopeful that they will be able to clear all barangays of illegal drugs soon. (JKC/OTB/PIA Cagayan)