YACON EYED AS MARIJUANA PROXY CROP

ALMOST P50 million worth of marijuana was uprooted and destroyed in
Benguet recently in line with the Philippine National Police
(PNP)-Cordillera's intensified implementation of the National
Anti-Drug Program of Action for a Drug-Free Philippines by 2010.

To further actuate this program, a memorandum of understanding (MOU)
was also signed on the farming of the yacon rootcrop as another
livelihood program in the region to serve as an alternative to
marijuana cultivation.

The MOU was signed by heads of the Department of the Interior and
Local Government (DILG), the PNP, the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special
Operation Task Force (Aidsotf), the Police Regional Office
(PRO)-Cordillera, and the regional heads of the Department of Science
and Technology (Dost), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the
Department of Agriculture (DA), the Department of Agrarian Reform
(DAR) and the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Chief Superintendent Leonardo Dionisio, PRO-Cordillera director, said
this is another proof of the PNP's commitment to realize a Drug-Free
Philippines by 2010.

"In the Cordilleras, many farmers are being lured to plant marijuana
because they find it a lot cheaper to cultivate. It is also easier to
tend a marijuana plantation. The very lucrative profit that they
derive from it makes them unmindful of its devastating social
effects," he said.

"In dialogues that we conducted with local residents during marijuana
eradications, one of the approaches that the PRO-Cordillera has
advocated in minimizing, if not totally stopping its cultivation in
the region, was for the conversion of marijuana plantations to
vegetable or flower farms," Dionisio added.

"Subsequently, the PRO-Cordillera has recommended during Regional
Development Council, Regional Peace & Order Council and Regional Law
Enforcement Coordinating Council meetings that provisions have to be
made for a farm-to-market road in Kapangan, Benguet; for a tram or
cable car system in Tinglayan, Kalinga; and for alternative livelihood
programs in these areas. So far, the endeavor that has thrived among
these efforts is for the establishment of the pilot project in
Kapangan, Benguet, on anthurium farming; and this has flourished
through the steadfastness of its municipal government," he added.

Dionisio said the yacon livelihood program will serve as one of the
region's contributions to the global campaign against illegal drugs.

He added the intensified implementation of the National Anti-Drug
Program of Action for a Drug-Free Philippines by 2010 here has
resulted to the eradication of 224,240 fully-grown marijuana plants
and 27,000 seedlings worth P45,928,000 as well as the seizure of
P1.5-million worth of seeds in a total of 37,200 square-meter lots
planted with the illegal hemp plant in the provinces of Benguet and
Ifugao from December 9 to 11.

Of these, 82,500 fully-grown cannabis sativa plants valued at
P16,500,00, 20,000 seedlings worth P800,000 and 60 kilograms of seeds
valued at P1,500,000 were destroyed in a 1,200-square meter site in
Sitio Lubok, Ahin, Tinoc, Ifugao last December 9 by the Cordillera
police.

Also, 80,000 fully-grown marijuana valued at P16,000,000 was also
uprooted from a 20,000 square meter plantation in Sitio Lukok, and
another 8,000 fully-grown plants worth P1,600,000 were destroyed in a
2,000-square meter site at Sitio Tebteb, both in Badeo, Kibungan,
Benguet, last December 11 by operatives of the Benguet Provincial
Police Office.

Also in the same barangay, 24,000 fully-grown marijuana valued at
P4,800,000 was uprooted in a 6,000-square meter site at Sitio Mocgao
last December 10.

Further, 29,740 fully-grown marijuana and 7,000 seedlings with a total
worth of P6,228,000 was destroyed by joint members of the Bakun
Municipal Police Station and the Philippine Army based in Mankayan,
Benguet, in an 8,000-square meter plantation at Mt. Salin, Sitio
Bulisay, Kayapa, Bakun, Benguet. The operation was personally
supervised by Senior Superintendent Rodrigo Licudine, Regional
Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (Raidsotg) action
officer.

Moreover, 22 bricks of dried marijuana weighing 19.8 kilos, which had
a Dangerous Drug Board value of P495,000, was also intercepted in a
checkpoint being manned by anti-illegal drug operatives of the
Mountain Province PPO at the Community Police Action Center in Sinto,
Bauko, Mt. Province. The contraband was loaded in a Rising Sun bus
bearing plate number AYG-787 bound for Baguio. This was flagged down
by police operatives at around 7AM of December 9. The bus occupants,
including its driver and conductor, denied ownership of the illegal
drug.