DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said she is not fully convinced that declared drug-free barangays are really “drug-free.”
Duterte-Carpio in a press conference on Monday, November 20, said while there are candidates for drug-clear barangays, she was not able to sign any certification yet since she wants to have the parameters or concrete basis from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
“If you have a set of parameters or checklist to declare the area drug-clear, it will be okay for me. But if we say the area is drug-clear because the captain said so, because the police said so, I cannot sign that,” Duterte-Carpio said.
Citing barangay Langub as among the barangays declared drug-free in Davao City, Duterte-Carpio said, “They told me that it is already drug-free, but my question is, if you say drug-free, drug-clear, does it mean that you cannot see even one sachet of shabu or you cannot see any drug user there?”
The city mayor said she really needs concrete basis for the declaration of drug-fee/drug-clear barangays.
She said she demanded these parameters from DILG since June.
“Let's say for example (the area is clear from drugs if) there are less than five persons who are users in the area, or there are ten users, five are in rehab or five still need to be reached out. So this is what I have been asking and no one has ever given me that,” Duterte-Carpio added.
She said previously DILG asked her to declare drug-free barangays to comply with the requirement for Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) Awards but she sent a letter to them stating that it is unfair for the LGUs to be subjected to such requirement. And if they do not remove the requirement the city will just be fine not receiving the award.
“I’ve written a letter to DILG saying that do not give me an award, I will not certify that because I am not sure of it (drug-clear barangays) if my only basis are the certification from barangay captain and the chief of police. I am afraid that if I depend on their word, and I will sign it, declaring that I am sure it is drug-free, and suddenly police will conduct operation and will find something in the area," she said in vernacular.
Duterte-Carpio emphasized that getting an award or not, she is sure that the city is conducting activities to contribute to the drug campaign of President Duterte.
Despite this, the DILG still announced the city as among the winners of SGLG.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, which is now responsible for the anti-drug campaign, awarded the city, including its City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Cadac), barangays and many other stakeholders for their active participation on drug campaign, during the weekly flag ceremony on Monday.
Duterte-Carpio said that she is thankful for the City-Anti Drug Abuse Council (Cadac) for the community-based rehabilitation saying that it is a “very effective” intervention as it included barangays and the community.
Duterte-Carpio said that the construction of drug rehabilitation is still ongoing in Malagos.
“The city will only have little participation on this, since the drug rehabilitation will continue in Davao. We just need to finalize details what type of patients can be placed in the drug rehabilitation center (in Malagos), and those who will stay in the Davao City Drug Rehabilitation Center since the DOH also needs the facility,” she added.