PHILIPPINE Drug Enforcement Agency and police operatives uprooted over 50,000 fully-grown marijuana plants worth at least P20.6 million in three separate operations in Cebu on Saturday.
The first operation was conducted around 10:30 a.m. at an 800-square meter plantation in Sitio Quo in Barangay Gaas, Balamban where 11,500 marijuana plants, worth P4.6 million, was uprooted.
The second farm, with a size of 1,500 square meters, was raided around 1:20 p.m. in Sitio Hikapon in Barangay General Climaco, Toledo City where PDEA and PNP personnel uprooted 25,000 marijuana plants worth P10 million.
At around 3:40 p.m., PDEA and PNP operatives also swooped down at a 1,000-square meter plantation in Sitio Hikapon and uprooted another 15,000 marijuana plants worth P6 million.
The cultivators of the marijuana plants in the three sites — Rodrigo Cabilles, Ernie Lagaza, and Enyoy Zabate, respectively — managed to escape. Charges for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 are being prepared against them.
PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar ordered police units to closely coordinate with PDEA for the arrest of the suspects. He has also ordered a probe to identify the cohorts of the suspects and to whom they are selling the marijuana. — With Noel Talacay
