100,000 marijuana plants burned in Mt Chumanchil, Kalinga
Soldiers and anti-narcotics agents uprooted and burned more than 100,000 fully grown marijuana plants worth over ₱20 million on Mt Chumanchil in Tinglayan, Kalinga; the regional drug agency said no cultivator was caught.
Joint military and anti-narcotics operatives burned marijuana plants worth more than ₱20 million
after uprooting them on Mt Chumanchil, the known plantation in Tinglayan, Kalinga, the previous
week.[1]Citing regional Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency reports, the account says combined
elements of the Army’s 21st Infantry Battalion and narcotics agents uprooted more than 100,000
fully grown plants and destroyed them at the site.[1]
Senior Inspector Edgar Apalla, officer-in-charge of the PDEA Cordillera office, said no marijuana
cultivator was apprehended during the eradication.[1]He said arresting cultivators was one of
the operation’s objectives but they remained elusive.[1]
The wider drive
The account notes the burning followed calls at a recent Luzon-wide drugs summit in Baguio for an
all-out drive against the Cordillera marijuana trade, including criminal charges against growers
and owners of land planted with marijuana.[1]It describes the Cordillera as the country’s top
marijuana source, supplying almost 70 percent of national output.[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.
