By Jennifer P. Rendon
More than P60 million worth of suspected illegal substances were seized in almost six months of anti-illegal drug operations in Iloilo City.
The P63.3-million haul was the result of the 182 anti-illegal drug operations conducted since January 27, the first day that Colonel Joeresty Coronica assumed as Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) director, until July 18.
But Coronica explained that the value of illegal drugs is based on street level computation.
Currently, the standard drug price (SDP) of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu all over the country is P6,800 per gram.
In coming up with the P63.3-million value, the ICPO used the P500 per sachet (0.02 gram) estimate.
Coronica also clarified that they only took into account the operations spearheaded by units under ICPO’s administrative control.
If operations spearheaded by other units like the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit (RPDEU) 6 will be considered, the street price of confiscated illegal drugs is pegged at P119.566 million.
But if only the SDP is to be used in the estimates, total confiscation only amounted to P32.522 million.
The RPDEU-6 led 12 anti-illegal drug operations in Iloilo while the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) conducted 6.
The 200 anti-drug operations included 175 done through buy-busts.
The operations also resulted in the arrest of 302 “drug personalities”. The arrested persons included 70 “high-value individuals” (HVIs), 206 “street level individuals” (SLIs), and 26 who were not on the watchlist.
Coronica said that the current period’s operations are way bigger than that of last year.
But it should not be misconstrued that the illegal drug situation in Iloilo City has grown worse.
“We did more operations and collared more personalities because we have been receiving reliable information,” he said.
Coronica also attributed their success in the anti-illegal drugs campaign to the efforts of ICPO personnel.
But the campaign, he added, will not end with the said statistics.
“In fact, we will use that numbers to do even more and do even better,” Coronica said.
