BAGUIO CITY – The unrelenting and uncompromising campaign of the government against the proliferation of illegal drugs continuous to gain success in the Summer Capital following the surrender of a total of 381 drug suspects to the Baguio city Police Office (BCPO) over the past several weeks, Senior Superintendent George D. Daskeo, BCPO City Director, said here Friday.
The police official said the increasing number of drug suspects volunta4rily giving themselves up to the local police force only shows the willingness of the persons to embrace reform for them to be given a chance to be embraced by the members of their families and the people in the community where they live.
“WE will continue to aggressively put pressure on the drug suspects who remain to defy our appeal for them to surrender and give up their involvement to the illicit drug trade. We do not want to inflict injuries to the drug suspects who try to fight it out with us that is why we are now making a final warning for them to surrender or face the consequences of their continuous illegal activities,” Daskeo stressed.
The BCPO chief added continuous monitoring is being done by the members of Baguio’s Finest to those individuals who already voluntarily surrendered to the police and promised to give up their involvement in the drug trade to check their compliance to their signed promissory notes in order to totally rid the city of the proliferation of illegal drugs.
According to him, around 10 percent of those show voluntarily surrendered to the police stations are drug pushers while the rest are drug users who already informed investigators where they are getting their drug supply.
Daskeo said law enforcers will now focus their attention in going after the drug suppliers once the different police stations are able to account for the identified drug pushers and users in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
The BCPO official appealed to barangay officials and even residents to report to the nearest police station any illegal activities of their neighbors so that they can conduct the necessary surveillance operations keeping their identities confidential so that more people will become vigilant to what is happening in their neighborhood.
He added that those who voluntarily surrender to the law enforcers after the lapse of several days will be subjected to the mandatory drug test and if found to be positive of the use of illegal drugs, the6y will be appropriate charged before the courts for violation of the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Law, particularly the use of illegal drugs.
Daskeo said drug personalities should not wait for them to be charged before voluntarily surrendering but instead, avail of the grace period given to them to surrendered so that they will have the necessary peace of mind rather than being constantly bothered once they will not pass the prescribed drug test before the local crime laboratory./Dexter A. See
