Authorities caught 44-year-old Danny Buya at his home in Barangay Pugol, Lamut, Ifugao, on November 5.
This was during a buy-bust operation by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
They confiscated two sachets of shabu, weighing one gram and valued at 10,200 pesos, along with other drug paraphernalia.
He will face charges for violating Republic Act 9165, the Comprehensive Drugs Act of 2002.
Authorities discovered separate marijuana eradications worth over 2.6 million pesos in Kalinga and Benguet last Tuesday, November 5.
They found 8,700 fully grown marijuana plants, and 375 grams of seedlings, valued at 1.9 million pesos.
In Barangay Butbut Proper, Tinglayan, they also discovered 4,500 marijuana plants worth 900,000 pesos.
Despite ongoing police operations, it remains difficult to capture the cultivators.
Some plantations are currently being monitored.
“Actually, we have found plantation sites in Kalinga, Benguet, and Mt. Province,” said PLtCol. Carolina Lacuata, Chief Public Information Officer at PRO – CAR.
The police will conduct further investigations to identify those behind these plantations.
**VANESSA BUGTONG