‘REESTABLISH AUTHORITY’

Querol reactivates TF Bakhaw

By Tara Yap
NO less than the region’s top cop has ordered the reactivation of Task Force Bakhaw to at least curb one of the two most notorious drug groups in Iloilo City operating in Brgy Bakhaw.

C/Supt. Cipriano Querol Jr. disclosed that the reactivation is meant to make police authority felt and known in the area known as the base of at least one illegal drugs syndicate operating in Iloilo City.

“We need to reestablish (government) authority in the area,” the police regional director explained, adding that “we need to know exactly who’s who” in the illegal drug trade.

The reactivation of TF Bakhaw is also in response to the assassination of PO2 Joemarie Lamis last November 2. The cop’s suspected killers are linked to the Prevendido drug group, who allegedly controls the illegal drug trade in that village in Mandurriao district.

Headed by Supt. Leo Batiles, TF Bakhaw will deploy 50 cops in different shifts to closely monitor the illegal drug trade.

TF Bakhaw will also closely work with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA-6) and the city and regional anti-illegal task forces.

Meanwhile, police provincial director Gil Lebin has ordered the creation of Task Force Iloilo to combat the illegal drug trade that has proliferated in the provincial level.

“It’s no longer just in Iloilo City. It has spread to the province,” Lebin noted.