Bataan village to impose ‘no drug test, no barangay clearance’ policy

LIMAY, Bataan – A village in Bataan is set to implement a “no drug test, no barangay clearance” policy aimed at attaining a 100-percent drug-free locality, barangay chairman Restituto Reyes of Lamao, a seaside village in Limay, Bataan announced Friday.

Reyes said they are just waiting for the construction of a drug testing center in Lamao and the policy of requiring all those applying for a barangay clearance to submit themselves to drug screening will be implemented.

Lamao will be the first among the 236 barangays in Bataan to have such a regulation. The village head said that during a recent barangay assembly, he discussed the matter with the residents who he said all agreed. Reyes said he got full support even in his talks with parents and elementary and high school teachers.

He said that he has asked villagers to help in clearing Lamao of illegal drugs and in the process of personally convincing some known users to stop. His campaign against illegal drugs paid off after a known drug pusher/user last week voluntarily surrendered to him and asked for admission to the Bahay Pag-asa Reformation Center inside Camp Tolentino in Balanga City.

“We are giving our co-villagers the chance to mend their lives away from the drug menace,” Reyes said.

Lamao is one of the most progressive among the 236 barangays in Bataan. It has an air conditioned barangay hall, a health center where indigents get some free medicines and its own firefighting units.

It is home to the expansion project of Petron Bataan Refinery, a coal power plant, an explosives company, the government arsenal, the provincial offices of the Philippine Ports Authority and the Bureau of Customs. Cargo ships dock in Lamao while waiting to load and unload fuel products.