FIVE villages in the Municipality of Pulupandan in Negros Occidental were declared cleared of illegal drugs.
These are Barangays Tapong, Culo, Pag-ayon, Ubay and Palaka Sur, which were validated by the oversight committee of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Negros Island Region (PDEA-NIR) as having no presence of drug personalities.
PDEA-NIR Acting Regional Director Roselyn Borja, along with representatives of other government agencies, attended the declaration and signing of commitment rites held at the town auditorium Tuesday afternoon.
Senior Inspector Alfred de Leon told VoxPop Bacolod that Barangay Tapong was the only unaffected village with no drug surrenderers at all among the five drug-cleared barangays.
Of the 180 surrenderers in Pulupandan, 33 came from the four other drug-cleared barangays, he added.
The municipality has 180 drug surrenderers since the start of Oplan Tokhang in July last year.
The five villages were added to the 14 drug-cleared barangays in NIR, based on the new parameters of Dangerous Drugs Board Regulation 3, Series of 2017.
