Ilocos region: Authorities seized and destroyed shabu and marijuana worth over PHP14 billion in 2025. In an interview Tuesday, Maj. Divina Albino, chief of the Police Regional Office-1 (PRO1) information office, said they have confiscated and uprooted a total of around PHP230 million worth of shabu and marijuana in their 1,566 operations with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Ilocos regional office.
According to Philippines News Agency, the operations with PDEA resulted in the arrest of 1,753 individuals. Albino reported that police conducted 31 marijuana eradication operations last year, which led to the destruction of 715,835 marijuana plants and 80,646 seedlings valued at over PHP145.3 million.
"The most successful operations were in December with 283,400 fully grown marijuana plants and 8,000 seedlings destroyed worth PHP57 million discovered in 57 plantations in the mountainous parts of Sugpon, Licungan, and Danac, Ilocos Sur," Albino stated. Among those arrested was a 65-year-old and a minor found tending to marijuana seedlings in Mabini, Pangasinan.
Albino noted that a significant portion of the total amount confiscated in the campaign against illegal drugs was from the recovery of 1,081 packs of "floating shabu" in the coastal waters of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, and Pangasinan, with a total weight exceeding 1 million grams and valued at nearly PHP7 billion. The discovery of these "floating shabu" packs initiated on June 7 of the previous year, starting in Bolinao, Pangasinan, where packs worth PHP863.6 million were found.
Additionally, another substantial seizure occurred in October last year in the towns of Labrador and Bugallon in Pangasinan. In this operation, shabu valued at almost PHP7 billion was seized from the residence of a 40-year-old Chinese national and a 54-year-old Filipino from Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Del Sur.
