OCD-Davao chief wants peace council to lead anti-drug drive patterned on EO 70

The head of the Office of Civil Defense in Davao Region (OCD-Davao) is urging the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) to lead a region-wide campaign against illegal drugs, modelled on Executive Order 70, the order that created the national anti-insurgency task force, according to SunStar.

OCD-Davao Regional Director Ednar Dayanghirang made the proposal at a Davao Peace and Security Press Corps briefing at The Royal Mandaya Hotel in Davao City on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. He said his visits to 800 of the region's 1,000 barangays left him convinced that drug use is widespread and growing. He added that residents told him they fear drug syndicates and are even afraid to report to the police.

Dayanghirang said barangay drug clearing, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the police are already in place, but drugs keep entering the country. He said agencies in the PDEA-led cluster have raised problems they cannot solve on their own, including a lack of funds and doctors for rehabilitation.

In June, he proposed RPOC Resolution 18, Series of 2026, asking the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) to institutionalise a whole-of-government approach to the drug problem in the region. He said PDEA told him on November 3 that the DDB is now discussing it. Rather than wait for the national board, he plans to recommend at the RPOC's November meeting that the council form a technical working group to draft a regional approach.

He said he will also recommend that Davao Oriental pilot the approach. Under his plan, officials would first hold dialogues with the families of people on police and PDEA lists, take cases down to the purok level, and then bring in agencies such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Health, the Department of Agriculture and Tesda to deliver services. "We will not kill people," he said. "The approach is to help, not to arrest."

Dayanghirang also proposed a separate cluster against drug importation that would group agencies including the Department of Foreign Affairs, Customs, maritime agencies and the Department of Transportation to monitor airports, seaports and land transport.

Hours before the briefing, Davao City police, working with PDEA-Davao, arrested a suspected drug peddler known as "Bai" in a buy-bust operation in Purok 15, Ideal, Barangay Bago Aplaya. The Davao City Police Office said about 72 grams of suspected shabu worth P489,600 were seized.