SunStar + April 29, 2021 “Tiangge” or wet market, that was how anyone who had been to the coastal barangay of Tanke, Talisay would describe the bravado with which illegal drugs were sold in that corner of the city before 2016. The village seemed like a parallel universe with residents, local officials and the police reduced to inferior terms in the presence and dominance of drug lords. No one dared to rock the boat. In 2020, in a speech during a Sinulog affair, President Rodrigo Duterte singled out Talisay City for its drug situation, and Barangay Tanke apparently was at the core of that displeasure. At that time, authorities had already made strides in the campaign, had laid down the groundworks with a series of surgical operations apprehending identified drug lords. In fact, the city already had its long-running rehabilitation and after-care program under its City Health Office in full swing.