Catamco wants all drug rings in North Cotabato neutralized
Local News • 17:45 PM Mon Jul 29, 2019
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By:
John M. Unson
Gov. Nancy Catamco is chairperson of the provincial peace and order council. (John Unson)
NORTH COTABATO --- The provincial government on Monday urged authorities to stop the narcotics trade in North Cotabato that topped in arrests of traffickers from among Region 12 provinces in recent months.
No fewer than 10 of the shabu dealers arrested in the past two years in North Cotabato, covering 17 towns and more than 40 barangays in its capital, Kidapawan City, have links with the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and reportedly even shared earnings to the group.
The first-termer North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco said Monday she is ready to extend technical and fiscal support allowed under state audit regulations to boost the anti-drug trafficking campaigns of the police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the province.
Catamco, a former congresswoman, assumed as governor only last June 30. She is presiding chairperson of the inter-agency North Cotabato provincial peace and order council, or PPOC.
“Whatever it takes, as long as not against government accounting restrictions, I will provide to the police and PDEA just for this drug problem to get fixed,” Catamco said.
Records obtained from key PPOC members indicated that North Cotabato had the highest number of arrest of drug dealers in separate police and PDEA-12 operations in months prior to Catamco’s assumption as provincial governor.
Catamco said she learned from Naravy Duqiatan, director of PDEA-12, that if compared to other provinces in Region 12, North Cotabato has the highest statistics on cases of arrests and in volume of shabu seized in operations from between 2017 to early this year.
Region 12 covers the provinces of Sarangani, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong and Kidapawan.
“That for me is a big problem and a challenge the provincial government has to hurdle,” said Catamco, referring to the narcotics problem besetting North Cotabato.
Catamco has asked the provincial police to launch a massive crackdown on drug traffickers in North Cotabato.