Duterte to bring back police as lead agency in drug war

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he delivers his state of the nation address at Congress in Manila on July 24, 2017.
File photo: Noel Celis/AFP
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he delivers his state of the nation address at Congress in Manila on July 24, 2017. File photo: Noel Celis/AFP

Only a month after removing the Philippine National Police from anti-drug operations, President Rodrigo Duterte said yesterday that he would bring back police to prevent illegal drugs from thriving again.

In a speech in front of soldiers in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, Duterte said he would bring the police back to the frontlines of the drug war to prevent the illegal drug trade from thriving once more.

He had been hinting in his recent speeches that he might bring the PNP back to the anti-drug campaign should the peace and order situation in the country worsen.

“But as of now, just to parry, I gave that responsibility to PDEA. But whether I like it or not, I have to return that power to the police because, surely, it will increase the activity of [sic] the shabu (meth),” Duterte said in his speech.

Duterte issued on October 10, a memorandum circular ordering the 2,000-strong PDEA to take the lead in the anti-drug campaign just as the roughly 175,000-strong PNP faced allegations of abuse in the drug war.

This prompted the PNP to terminate the controversial “Oplan Tokhang,” its house-to-house knock and plead operations against drug suspects.

It said it would shift to cleansing its ranks and addressing other crimes.

The government has many times defended Duterte’s war on drugs, where about 3,800 have died in legitimate police operations, according to police statistics. Over 3,000 have been killed by masked vigilantes, but the police deny any involvement in these killings.

Police would often use the reason that suspects “fought back” to justify the killings. The administration has also repeatedly asserted that it does not sanction summary killings nor condone police abuses.

Human rights groups, however, estimate the death toll at 13,000, a figure dismissed by the government as overblown.

This is the second time the president asked the police to step back from the drug war, then reinstated their involvement. The first time was following the death of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo allegedly in the hands of police officials October last year.

Jee was killed right inside the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame. But only a month later, he asked the police to go back to conducting drug operations, of course, citing the alleged “resurgence of the drug trade on the streets.”

Last Friday, Philippine National Police Chief Ronald Dela Rosa said that rape instances have gone up since the police stepped back from the drug war. A statement he made without presenting any verifiable data.

The constitutionality of Duterte’s drug war is currently being challenged in the Supreme Court.

with a report from ABS-CBN News



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