PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE OPERATIONS ON THE DRUG PROBLEM: ITS EFFICIENCY IN DRUG AND DRUG RELATED CASES REDUCTION

This study determined the impact of the police operation against illegal drugs to the peace and order situation of the province of Antique, level of community consciousness on drug issues in society, and level of security perceived by the residents in their community. Descriptive research design was used and a selfmade survey questionnaire was utilized in collecting data from the respondents. Community residents were chosen through convenience sampling while the police operatives were purposively selected as respondents of the study. The data was statistically treated using the mean, standard deviation, and Pearson-r correlation to analyze the responses of the respondents. Results of the study concluded the positive impact of the implementation of police operations in the reduction of social disorders not only drug related cases but other types of disorders as well. Consequently, the residents become conscious on drug issues in their community and knowledgeable about the problem of illegal drugs. They perceived their community as secure place to live with manageable threat from bad elements. The positive impact of the police operations against illegal drugs is associated with the cooperation of the residents to the endeavors in enforcing the law. In order to maintain the positive impact, the local government unit should have a counterpart office that will manage the handling of cases of drug surrenderees to salvage them from destructive effect of drugs and drug use offense.