Years back, and even until now, local civilian authorities love to boast that Davao City is “drug-free.” This is one mouthful of a boast that the police hesitatingly agree. But the positive description of the city appears to be very well etched to the area that there is already some kind of subtle acceptance by the public including people from other parts of the country. In fact many local government units have considered Davao City’s illegal drug prevalence level then, the benchmark of their own desired situation for their respective area of jurisdiction.
Lately however, there were reports of police apprehensions of illegal drug dealers and confiscation of their merchandise right in areas just within the noses of law enforcers. The most recent of apprehension happened early dawn yesterday. And of all places the prohibited drugs worth P6.9 million was confiscated from a house at NHA Maa, Just a few hundred meters away from the Maa police station. The addictive substance notoriously known as shabu was placed inside a heavy-duty plastic sack. And as we wrote this column there were still no other details provided by the raiding police team.
Now let us go back to Davao City as a “drug-free” community. “Drug-free” is a two-word descriptive phrase that pictures the city as literally out of the clutches of the traders and pushers of the addictive shabu. Yes, shabu, the white powdery substance that has been cause of the deterioration of society and the lives of many people who are hooked to it.
But is Davao City “drug-free,” or say “drug-free” once? With what is happening these last few months relative to the apparent come-back of the illegal drugs merchants, many are now entertaining the idea that the “drug-free” tag may have already evolved into a Davao City relatively “free” market for illegal drug traders to dispose of their merchandise.
Yes, the illegal drug merchants may have found some degree of laxity in the anti-illegal drugs campaign of both the civilian and police authorities that the traders of the prohibited drugs find Davao as a vast market.
May be it is about time that both the police and the civilian authorities should sit down and reconcile their strategies in fighting the resurging illegal drugs business in the city. It is also their most opportune time to “fix” whatever differences they have and harmonize their over-all strategy to put up an effective front against the illegal drugs traders.
They (the police and civilian authorities) cannot hope to win even a battle against the resurging drug trade in the city if they fight it using separate schemes.
Yes, in this kind of battle both the police and civilian authorities must act as one and be guided with the same strategies acceptable to both.
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And by the way how long will it take for the Philippine National Police (PNP) leadership to select and appoint a new and permanent Director of the Davao City Police Office (DCPO)? The last time that we heard of reports about the permanent replacement of “ousted” city director P/Col. Richard Bad-ang was that there were already names subject to the selection process. But it’s been over a week now since that report came out in the local media. Yet, until the writing of this piece it is still an OIC who is leading the DCPO.
With the current set-up at the city police office, any strategy to fight against the burgeoning illegal drugs trade in the city will only be tentative. And assuming that after the sudden and unexpected removal of Colonel Bad-ang supposedly to allow an effective and fair investigation on the deaths of seven drugs suspect less than three weeks into his term, the Mayor and the DCPO OIC have already talked about the city’s current drugs situation, still coming to an agreement on a harmonized strategy will be difficult. The reason could be simple. The next DCPO director may have his own way of implementing a nationally adopted program of dealing with the illegal drugs problem.
Thus, many Davaoenos we have the opportunity to talk to about the city’s illegal drug situation are one in saying the assumption of a new and permanent Davao City Police Director is already a “MUST.
