PDEA, Cotabato mayor, prosecutor fuse ranks vs narcotics dealers

COTABATO CITY — A regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Cotabato City mayor and a state prosecutor on Thursday vowed to continue pushing forward the government’s anti-narcotics campaign in Cotabato City, the capital of the Bangsamoro region.

Mayor Mohammad Ali Matabalao, Fiscal Mariam Veloso Mastura of the City Prosecutor's Office and the director of the PDEA-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Gil Cesario Castro, also committed support to the anti-drug trafficking initiatives of the local communities during Thursday’s simple commemoration here of the agency’s 22nd founding anniversary.

A number of PDEA-BARMM agents then received special citations for their apprehension of some 30 large-scale narcotics dealers and confiscation of at least P100 million worth of shabu in separate operations in Cotabato City and in nearby BARMM provinces in recent months.

Five news reporters were also awarded by Castro's office with special citations for their prompt reporting of PDEA-BARMM's accomplishments.

“I assure the PDEA-BARMM of my administration's support for its law-enforcement activities in this city,” Matabalao, chairperson of the Cotabato City Peace and Order Council, said in a message during the gathering at the agency's regional office at the Pedro Colina Hill Complex here. 

Mastura said she is glad by how the PDEA-BARMM is trying its best to nip the illegal drugs problem in Cotabato City from the bud.

She said she admires the courage and determination of PDEA-BARMM agents in preventing drug dealers from moving around the 37 barangays here and nearby towns.

“You have my commitment of support towards that goal,” Mastura said.