By Rey Anthony Chiu

Of the 1,109 barangays in Bohol, 363 have been affected by illegal drugs, according to a report of the Bohol Police Provincial Office (BPPO). The fresh police report reechoed an earlier pronouncement of National Bureau of Investigation Director Virgilio Mendez, who has expressed alarm of the rampant illegal drugs in Bohol. Police Senior Superintendent Dennis Agustin, PNP Provincial Director, at the April 15 Peace and Order Council (PPOC) meeting, said that the data gathered by local police intelligence need to be verified and updated to make it defensible to the public who may want to get into the details of the report. Agustin revealed that 23 of Bohol's 1,109 barangays are seriously affected with the drug menace. Another 71 barangays are moderately affected while 269 are slightly affected, the Bohol PNP chief has reported in front of council members, on April 15.

He also said that of the more than one thousand barangays here, 676 remain unaffected, while some 70 barangays have been cleared of the drug problem. At the meeting, Local Monitoring Board Coordinator Romeo Teruel sought clarification as to when a barangay is said to be having a serious drug problem. Bohol Provincial Prosecutor Macario Delusa shared the same sentiment with Teruel, adding that some data from the towns are “unbelievable.” While PSSupt Agustin, in a separate media interview has rated Bohol drug affectation as alarming, with Tagbilaran and Panglao among the towns with serious drug affectations, the BPPO report bared that Panglao has only 3 slightly affected and 7 moderately affected barangays. Reports surfacing at the Talakayan sa Isyung Pulis (TSIP) forum held in Anda on April 14 has revealed that there have been intelligence reports needing confirmation that drugs in Panglao are now peddled at front desks of some resorts. Asked on the parameters as to how the police were able come up with the categories, the former anti-organized crime czar in his Metro Manila days declined to share the parameters, adding that the data would soon be updated and validated, as these have come from local police stations who were mandated to come up with the reports.

As this came on, PPOC chairperson Governor Edgar Chatto has also asked BPPO to present the parameters following interest in the council, stirred by the alarming information. Earlier on, Gov. Chatto has dared barangays to get serious against drugs, reasoning that the fight against this society's evil could easily be nipped when every barangay is organized to face the problem. He has also urged Boholanos from both the public and private sector to unite and set up a system of reporting so that no drug personality could get into their villages if they continue with their illegal trade.