KIBUNGAN, Benguet – Combined police operatives and anti-narcotics agents successfully destroyed over P6.7 million worth of marijuana plants which were planted in at least 20 sites in two villages during a two-day marijuana eradication operation that ended late Friday afternoon.

The identified plantation sites were located at the remote sitios of Legleg, Agadangan, Beleng, and Oydokan of Barangay Palina, and Sitio Delsig in Barangay Poblacion, Kibungan, Benguet.

Chief Supt. Orlando Pestano, director of the Police Regional Office (PRO) in the Cordillera, said the combined law enforcers were able to destroy over 33,400 fully-grown marijuana plants which were intermittently planted beneath Arabica coffee plants with the same having an estimated market value of at least P 6.7 million.

Kibungan is one of the remote towns in this vegetable-producing province which is identified as one of the major marijuana producers because of its proximity with the remote municipalities of Santol, La Union, and Sugpon, Ilocos Sur which are also considered as marijuana producers in Region I.

The uprooted marijuana plants were burned on site while a certain percentage was taken by the law enforcers for evidentiary purposes.

Ironically, no marijuana cultivator was arrested by the law enforcers even if the plantation sites were located near residential houses in the area, and that the marijuana plants were newly watered when the authorities arrived after several hours of hiking from the town proper.

The operating teams were composed of elements of the PRO-CAR regional anti-illegal drugs special operations task group, Kibungan municipal police station, and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in the Cordillera.

Marijuana is produced in the remote areas of Benguet, Ilocos Sur and La Union because the terrain and prevailing weather condition in the said places that are suitable to produce the illegal hemp which is being circulated in the different parts of the country, and Southeast Asia because of its high grade.