PDEA destroys P771 million of marijuana in 200 Cordillera operations
The PDEA's Cordillera unit destroyed about P771 million worth of marijuana plants in 200 eradication operations between January and 16 October 2023, most of them in Benguet and Kalinga. Kalinga accounted for the largest share by value at P624.5 million.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Cordillera Administrative Region (PDEA-CAR)
destroyed about P771 million worth of marijuana plants in 200 eradication operations from
January to 16 October 2023.[1]Regional director Julius Paderes said 112 operations were
conducted in Benguet, 79 in Kalinga, six in Mountain Province and three in Ifugao.[1]
Mostly plants, mostly Kalinga
Most of what was destroyed were plants worth P688 million, alongside P2.3 million in
seedlings, P4.5 million in dried leaves, P70 million in stalks, P2.4 million in bricks
and P12,500 in seeds.[1]Kalinga recorded the highest value destroyed at P624.5 million,
even though most operations took place in Benguet.[1]
Paderes said teams return to the same places because new plantations can appear near
earlier raid sites, with the goal of fully eradicating cultivation.[1]The police, the
Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Coast Guard and the National Bureau of Investigation
joined PDEA-CAR in the operations.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Police confiscated 2,230 fully grown marijuana plants from three plantation sites in Kapangan, Benguet, which police valued at P446,000. The eradication was carried out separately by provincial operating units with no plantation arrests named.
Cordillera police destroyed 548,130 marijuana plants and 9,000 seedlings in 14 operations from 25 October to 1 November 2026, arresting six drug suspects. A parallel manhunt arrested 28 other fugitives, bringing the week's total reported arrests to 34.
Police destroyed three marijuana plantations in Kapangan and Kibungan, Benguet, on 30 October 2026, seizing 1,150 mature plants and 1,000 seedlings. Police valued the plants at P270,000 and burned them on site while seeking those responsible.
Kalinga police uprooted and burned 544,000 fully grown marijuana plants across seven sites in Barangay Loccong, Tinglayan, on 27 October 2026, an operation the provincial office valued at about ₱108.8 million. No cultivators were arrested.
