By LITO RULONA Correspondent THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has seized nearly two kilograms of shabu amounting to some P9 million throughout northern Mindanao during an eight-month period. PDEA spokesperson Ben Calibre over the weekend said authorities also arrested 440 suspected drug peddlers and users in 228 anti-illegal drugs operations throughout Region 10 from January to August. He said the PDEA operations significantly increased the number of inmates in detention centers here. PDEA, according to Calibre, would further step up entrapment and monitoring operations. But Calibre said PDEA would not focus on shabu alone, and would include the peddling and use of marijuana as the Agency steps up the campaign here. So far, he said, PDEA succeeded in freeing some 144 of the region’s 2,022 barangays of illegal drugs. The PDEA’s basis for declaring areas “drug-free” as well as its definition of “drug-free” are unclear. Among the areas declared as “drug-free” by PDEA are 75 barangays in Misamis Occidental, 23 barangays in Misamis Oriental, 21 barangays in Bukidnon, 13 barangays in Camiguin, seven in Lanao del Norte, and five in Cagayan de Oro. Calibre said none of the barangays in neighboring Iligan City can be declared “drug-free”by PDEA. He said PDEA was also closely working with the Cagayan de Oro government through its City Anti-Drug Council because of the extent of the city’s drug problem. “We are appealing to the public to provide us information about the illegal activities by those involved in the drug trade,” Calibre said.