DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, May 26 (PIA) -- The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) here has reported that 64.48% of the barangays in Negros Oriental are still affected by illegal drugs as of April this year. 

It was noted by PDEA Agent Alain Deposoy, in a Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council (PADAC) meeting at the Capitol, that the slow implementation of the barangay drug-clearing program affects the status of Negros Oriental as the most drug-affected in Central Visayas.

However, 179 barangays in the province earned the drug-cleared status and 53 areas are drug-free after another round of deliberation by the regional oversight committee on barangay drug clearing.

Deposoy also announced that all barangays in the municipality of Basay have been declared as fully drug-cleared, becoming the first drug-cleared municipality in the province.

The establishment of a Balay Silangan is one of the requirements for the local government unit (LGU) to be declared as drug-cleared.

However, in the same meeting, LGU representatives objected and expressed difficulties to establish a Balay Silangan due to lack of funds, space, and has become impractical since some LGUs have less than five drug users identified or numbers are declining and no presence of pushers that can be rehabilitated.

Currently, Deposoy said LGUs in the province with Balay Silangan include the towns of Basay and Pamplona and the cities of Bais, Canlaon, and Bayawan.

He said Bayawan City crafted or signed a MOA with Basay to share its facility since the location is adjacent to each other.

However, it is proposed that the establishment of the facility should be by district for consideration.

PADAC Focal Person Fernando Martinez cited the main factor that comes across in the slow implementation of the barangay drug-clearing in the province is due to the difficulties of putting up a Balay Silangan.

“But now, hopefully there will be consideration to cluster it with different towns and come up with a MOA for clustering certain towns to set up the Balay Silangan,” said Martinez.

Of 218 barangays in District 1, 46 barangays are drug-cleared and 33 are drug-free with 36% drug affectation.

Of 174 barangays in District 2, 60 are drug-cleared, 13 are drug-free, with 41.45% remaining barangays still drug affected.

While in District 3, of the 165 barangays, 73 are drug-cleared and only seven barangays are declared drug free with 48.8% drug affectation. (JCT/PIA7 Negros Oriental)