The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Benguet has been allowed to hold office at the two floors of a building owned by the Benguet Electric Cooperative at Km. 4, La Trinidad, Benguet.
The free use of the third and fourth floors of the Beneco building has been formalized with the signing of a memorandum of agreement between Beneco board president, Atty. Esteban Somngi and PDEA-Benguet Chief Julius Paderes.
Under the MOA, PDEA-Benguet will use the spaces from April 1, 2020 to March 30, 2022, but Beneco has the option to pre-terminate the agreed period of use.
The Beneco board of directors was informed about PDEA’s request to use a portion of the building after PDEA-Benguet was established as an independent office from the PDEA regional office at Camp Bado Dangwa.
PDEA-Benguet has informed Beneco that the space is needed to sustain its daily operations in its bid to implement the government’s war on illegal drugs, a flagship project of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte. Being a new office, it is faced with budget constraints.
“The board of directors finds merit in the request of PDEA-Benguet and hereby grants the same as Beneco supports the national campaign against illegal drugs and that it would be honored to be a key player in the war on illegal drugs in terms of office support,” read the MOA signed last week.
Beneco also recognizes the need to empower PDEA-Benguet considering that the province is one of the major sources of marijuana in the Cordillera.
The MOA stated that PDEA-Benguet is allowed to introduce improvements, which shall be removed upon the termination of the agreement, provided no damage is incurred in the building’s major structure.
PDEA-Benguet, however, must first get the consent of Beneco before it introduces improvements.
Beneco also assured its clients that the holding of office by PDEA in the building will not interfere with the distribution utility’s operations, particularly its payment center located at the first floor, or hamper access by Beneco employees and clients.
Millions worth of fully-grown marijuana plants were uprooted in the hinterlands of Benguet, particularly in the remote villages of Kapangan and Kibungan.
Recently, marijuana plantation sites were discovered in the boundary of La Trinidad and Sablan. – Harley F. Palangchao
