CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga -- Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) lauded the local government units (LGUs) in Central Luzon for their involvement in the country’s fight against illegal drugs.
 
DILG Undersecretary for External and Legislative Affairs, and Outcome Officer for Anti-Illegal Drugs Ricojudge Janvier Echiverri emphasized that the LGUs did not neglect the advocacy against illegal drugs, and on top of the situation, coordinated with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
 
“What is the difference between the current situation and the past? Today, the fight against illegal drugs is not only a job of the PDEA and PNP. We have the LGUs participating in this fight against illegal drugs, that is why, perhaps, we could say we have improved so far compared in the past,” he said during the Regional Anti-Illegal Drug Summit cum Anti-Drug Abuse Council (ADAC) Awarding.
 
The official in turn urged the local chief executives to increase their ADAC accomplishments next year, by strengthening their community-based drug rehabilitation programs towards drug-free communities.
 
Meanwhile, DILG is pushing for the ADAC to become a law through the ADAC Bill which has already passed the House of Representatives and is now in the Senate. 
 
The bill will mandate all LGUs to create and make their ADACs functional. 
 
“Why are we doing this? President [Rodrigo] Duterte is nearing the end of his term but we want this program to be institutionalized so that the next administration will benefit from this good practice and we, as a country, will benefit from it,” Echiverri said. 
 
During the awarding, ADACs that obtained a score of 100 during the 2019 and 2020 ADAC Performance Audits were feted. 
 
These include the province of Bataan and the towns of Abucay, Bagac, Dinalupihan, Hermosa, Morong, Orani, Orion, Pilar, and Samal.
 
The ADACs of Arayat, Masantol, and San Simon in Pampanga also received a perfect score.
 
For the province of Tarlac, the towns of Anao, Bamban, Capas, Mayantoc, Pura, San Clemente, and Santa Ignacia received the award.
 
For the 2019 and 2020 High Functional ADACs, awardees include the province of Aurora, as well as the towns of Baler, Casiguran, Dingalan, Dipaculao, Maria Aurora, and San Luis.
 
The city of Balanga, and the municipalities of Limay and Mariveles in Bataan were also awarded under the category.
 
The province of Bulacan along with Angat, Balagtas, Baliwag, Bocaue, Calumpit, Doña Remedios Trinidad, Guiguinto, Hagonoy, Pandi, Plaridel, Pulilan, San Miguel, San Rafael, Santa Maria, Meycauayan City, and the City of San Jose Del Monte were likewise cited.
 
For Nueva Ecija, the recipients were Bongabon, Cabiao, Carranglan, Cuyapo, Gabaldon, Llanera, Licab, Nampicuan, Peñaranda, Rizal, San Antonio, San Leonardo, Santa Rosa, Talavera, and Zaragoza.
 
The province of Pampanga also received the award together with the municipalities of Apalit, Bacolor, Candaba, Floridablanca, Guagua, Macabebe, Magalang, Mexico, Minalin, Porac, San Luis, Sasmuan, Sta. Ana, Sta. Rita, and Sto. Domingo; and the City of San Fernando.
 
For Tarlac, Camiling, Concepcion, Gerona, La Paz, Moncada, Paniqui, Ramos, San Jose, San Manuel, Victoria, and Tarlac City were recognized.
 
The ADACs of Candelaria, San Antonio, San Marcelino, and Subic, and the whole province of Zambales also received the recognition.
 
DILG also awarded the highly-urbanized cities of Angeles and Olongapo as High Functional ADACs. (MJSC/JLDC-PIA 3)