Gov't burn MJ 'weeds' in Sarangani

‘Weeds’ haul – PCI Jaime Tabucon, the local police station chief and Bo. B’laan Brgy. Capt. Serene Masalon (partly hidden) lead the Thursday (October 23) devastation of some 1, 000 pieces of fully grown marijuana plants that sporadically thrive along the borderlines of Malungon, Sarangani and Kiblawan town in Davao Del Sur. Tabucon said the banned weeds were torched on Friday by Mayor Reynaldo 'Bongbong' Constantino, PDEA-12 agents and other participating government authorities at the Sunken Arena of Malungon town in Sarangani Province. (Isagani Palma – MALUNGON INFORMATION OFFICE).

Marijuana uprooting Operation – Photo shows the composite team of police, PDEA-12, 72nd and 73rd IB soldiers and Brgy. Officials lead by PCI Jaime Tabucon and Brgy. Capt. Serene Masalon (center) on Thursday's uprooting operation at the boundary site of Brgy. Bo. B’laan in Malungon, Sarangani and Sitio Bulol Salo, Kiblawan, Davao Del Sur. The ‘weeds,’ estimated to be worth P.450M were torched by government authorities lead by Mayor Bongbong Constantino on Friday at the Sunken Arena in Malungon, Sarangani Province. (Isagani Palma/ Mio-Malungon.)

MJ ceremonial burning – Mayor Reynaldo F. Constantino (left) lead anew, police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency operatives in torching Friday (October 24) some 1, 000 (hills) of fully grown marijuana weeds at the Suken Arena of Malungon town in Sarangani Province. Police C/Insp. Jaime Tabucon said the confiscated illegal plants were uprooted by government authorities and soldiers of the Army’s 73IB along the borderlines of Brgy. Bo. B’laan in Malungon, Sarangani and sitio Bolol Salo of the neighboring Kiblawan town in Davao Del Sur. Also in photo (center) is Mun. Councilor Joseph Calanao. (Isagani Palma/ Mio-Malungon).

Marijuana burning - Right, Mayor Reynaldo F. Constantino and PCI Jaime Tabucon (left) oversee the Friday torching of more or less P450, 000-worth banned weeds at the Sunken Arena of Malungon town in Sarangani Province. (Ipp/ MIO-Malungon).

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MALUNGON, Sarangani – Gov’t authorities torch a huge haul of fully grown Marijuana plants that were uprooted along the borderlines of Brgy. Bo. B’laan here, and sitio Bulol Salo of the neighboring Kiblawan town in Davao Del Sur. 

Mayor Reynaldo F. Constantino led the police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-tasked group on Friday in burning into ashes, the said confiscated weeds at the Municipal Sunken Arena in Malungon town. 

PCI Jaime Tabucon, local station chief of police, said the October 23 (Thursday) eradication of banned weeds was stress by a composite group of PNP, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-12, SBT RID 12, barangay officials and soldiers of the Army’s 72nd and 73rd Infantry Battalion, following information that marijuana plants had been spotted to be flourishing in a more or less quarter-hectare site that lays the mountainous and remote part of Malungon-Kiblawan border.

The PDEA-12 legal officer, Atty. Tessa Constantino estimated the devastated ‘weeds’ to more or less P.450M. 

“Basing the Dangerous Drug Board’s market value of P450.00 for every fully grown marijuana plant, we could peg the entire destroyed weeds of more or less 1, 000 pieces to P450, 000, 00, ” the lawyer said. 

In a forwarded report to Constantino, Tabucon said the banned plants, some of which 6-7 feet tall, could hardly be detected as it sporadically grow on its own at the grassy, shaded and forested areas of the said site.

“I believe these (illegal weeds) are not being maintained by anybody as we have not seen any indication of land improvement and or cultivation in the area. However, it was noticed that some of the twigs and buds were deliberately cut off, as it tends to show that the plants are frequently being harvested by some unidentified persons, who are making use of pushing the stuff at the nearby highly populated places,” Tabucon said. 

It can be recalled that through the help of various concerned gov’t agencies, millions worth of marijuana plants had been destroyed since Constantino launched the anti-drug campaign, even when he was still the then vice mayor and chairperson of the provincial government-formed Task Force for Peace and Dev’t in Malabod in 2004. 

When he assumed office as the town’s chief executive in 2007, Constantino again pushed for the total devastation and spraying of herbicides to every suspected marijuana plantation at the triangular boundaries of South Cotabato, Sarangani and Davao Del Sur. (MALUNGON INFORMATION OFFICE).