GUIUAN, Eastern Samar - The days of drug lords and their coddlers in Eastern Samar are now numbered. This, after the new provincial administration vowed to launch an intensified drive against illegal drugs in the province.
Governor Conrado "Aklan" Nicart Jr., speaking with local media, underlined that he wants Eastern Samar cleansed of illegal drugs.
Nicart said that on the day of his assumption to office, five drug lords were immediately arrested by operatives of the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in the capital city of Borongan.
He lauded the PDEA for the speedy apprehension of the suspected drug lords and said that even as he was making his inaugural address on the capital grounds, the law enforcement agents were conducting operations against the dangerous drug dealers.
Criminal charges have been filed by the PDEA against said suspects with the Regional Trial Court of Borongan.
"The days of the people involved in the illegal trade are now numbered, and I want them to get out of our province," Nicart said during his address at the mass oath-taking of the newly elected Guiuan officials held at the municipal gym.
For his part, Eastern Samar Vice-Governor Christopher Sheen Gonzales said he and the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Eastern Samar are behind the anti-illegal drugs campaign of their administration as "illegal drugs victimizes children, the youth and other victims as their future is destroyed by these drugs."
Earlier, Guiuan Mayor Annaliz Gonzales-Kwan said her administration will also focus on the drive against illegal drugs in her town as she is concerned for the welfare and future of the children and youth in her municipality.
Kwan warned those involved in the illegal drugs trade to stop their nefarious activities or leave the province "as Governor Nicart and his administration is dead serious in the anti-illegal drugs drive."
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It may be recalled that tons of high-grade cocaine are suspected to be still in the possession of some individuals after bricks of the toxic drugs were washed ashore in the coastal towns of Eastern Samar.
Such drugs were believed to have been thrown overboard into Eastern Samar waters by a foreign ship enroute to Hong Kong after the ship's crew learned that they were being trailed by international authorities monitoring the movement of illegal drugs in Asia.
A large stash of such cocaine which recovered by local authorities in Samar have been turned over to the PDEA even as some agents of the agency under Gen. Dionesio Santiago have also thrown into a bonfire some of cocaine they have recovered in rites held in Tacloban City last month.
Lawyer Roger Dones Evasco said the PACYAW partly-list is giving P5,000 financial assistance to each fisherman in Samar island surrendering cocaine in their possession to the authorities.
Evasco said they are giving such financial assistance to help those voluntarily surrendering whatever illegal drug they may have found in Samar Island so that there is no more danger of the proliferation of such toxic substance in other parts of the country.