Elements of the Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (RAIDSOTG), Regional Mobile Group 1 and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, working with Santol municipal police, destroyed about 170,000 fully grown marijuana plants of the so-called miracle variety near the tri-boundary of La Union, Benguet and Ilocos Sur over a three-day operation that weekend.[1] The force acted after task group commander Chief Superintendent Claudio Caneso Cabreros received a tip about two marijuana farms in the area and directed his deputy Senior Superintendent Vicente Tandiama Raval Jr. and special operations chief Superintendent Rolando Bonifacio Diaz to run the operation.[1]
The teams uprooted 35,000 fully grown plants on a 4,000-square-metre plot and 135,000 more on an 8,500-square-metre plot at the same place, 12,500 square metres (1.25 hectares) in all.[1] The Dangerous Drugs Board placed the value of the destroyed plants at 34 million pesos.[1] Bamboo tubes crisscrossed the plantation to irrigate the plants.[1] Most of the plants were burned at the site because they were hard to carry out, with the burning witnessed by village officials and documented by the raiding team.[1]
