NEGROS ORIENTAL, The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) here will validate the status of 75 barangays in Bayawan City and Sta. Catalina town on their declaration as drug-cleared barangays.

According to PDEA Intelligence Officer I Jose Anthony Juanites, said barangays are being endorsed to the regional oversight committee for deliberation and to be validated this January.

The barangays should be assessed based on the new Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) guidelines.

Under DDB Regulation No. 3, Series of 2017, the barangay declared drug-free by the police should be attested by the city or municipality anti-drug abuse council, validated by PDEA, and assessed and evaluated by an oversight committee of PDEA with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and members composed of the local government units (LGUs), Department of Health (DOH), and Philippine National Police (PNP).

So far, a total of 30 barangays in the province were already cleared from illegal drugs based on the parameters of DDB.

Juanites said if the local officials cannot maintain such status based on the continuous monitoring of PDEA, the agency will revoke the declaration.

"Once a barangay is declared drug-free, nobody should be identified to be a user and pusher in the area," said Juanites.

For now, PDEA reported that all 557 barangays in the province have active Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils (BADACs) as of December 2018.

Negros Oriental anti-narcotics operatives intensified their campaign against illegal drugs in 2018, resulting in the seizure of 24 high value targets with a total of 109 drug personalities arrested from January to December 2018.

The campaign continues with the implementation of RA 9165 and the conduct of 53 drug symposia or lectures and 19 advocacies with 11,546 individuals covered in all activities.

Juanites said the advocacies started in August last year as the new drug team assumed post.