11,502 marijuana plants burned in Tupi, South Cotabato
On 19 October 2025, PDEA Region 12 and police uprooted 11,502 fully grown marijuana plants in the uplands of Barangay Miasong, Tupi, burned most on site, and kept two specimens for laboratory evidence while four alleged cultivators including a leader known as Jan Cris escaped.
On the morning of 19 October 2025, agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s Region 12
office, with police from Police Regional Office 12, uprooted 11,502 fully grown marijuana plants
in the hinterland of Sitio Benigno Aquino, Barangay Miasong, Tupi, South Cotabato.[1][2]
Director Benjamin Recites said villagers and barangay officials had tipped off his agents to the
farm, which he linked to men also suspected of selling methamphetamine locally.[1]Residents
said at least four men, including a leader known only as Jan Cris, fled as teams approached from
two directions; none were arrested.[1]
Agents took samples for laboratory testing, then burned the rest on site with a chemical
incinerant in front of barangay officials and police.[1][2]Recites valued the destroyed plants
at more than PHP 2.3 million and said PDEA would pursue the propagators in absentia using the
specimens.[2]
Photos and video
PDEA-12 agents burn uprooted marijuana plants in Tupi on 19 October 2025.Photo details
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.
