Negros Occidental and Bacolod City still have the lowest number of drug cleared barangays in Western Visayas, a Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency official reported on Wednesday, Feb. 26.
The drug cleared barangays in Negros Occidental were at 83.19 percent and in Bacolod City – 34.43 percent, PDEA Negros Occidental Provincial Director David Maramba reported at a joint Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council and Provincial Peace and Order Council meeting at the Capitol in Bacolod City.
In Negros Occidental 500 of its 601 barangays are now drug cleared, he reported.
He also said 13 out of the 31 towns and cities in Negros Occidental are 100 percent drug cleared.
The 13 are Bago City, Candoni, EB Magalona, Isabela, La Castellana, Manapla, Moises Padilla, Pontevedra, Pulupandan, Silay City, Sipalay City, Valladolid and Victorias City.
Maramba said 93.48 percent of the barangays in Western Visayas are drug cleared.
Aklan, Guimaras and Antique are 100 percent drug cleared while Iloilo province is at 99.59 percent, followed by Capiz at 93.45 percent and Negros Occidental at 83.19 percent.
Among the highly urbanized cities Iloilo City is 52.78 percent drug cleared, while Bacolod City is at 34.43 percent, the PDEA report showed.
Maramba said despite the creation of the Negros Island Region the PDEA in Negros Occidental is still considered part of Western Visayas. *