Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-narcotics crackdown has killed thousands of people but the Philippine National Police-Internal Affairs Service (PNP-IAS) assured yesterday that they are investigating these cases and have dismissed 81 PNP personnel since the war on drugs started in July 2016.
“From the very beginning, the IAS was tasked to conduct automatic investigations when it comes to those incidents,” PNP-IAS Inspector General Alfegar Triambulo told ABS-CBN News.
A total of 2,658 police personnel were investigated from July last year to November of this year but more than half of the cases were dropped after being assessed as legitimate operations. 18 cases are currently undergoing pre-charge investigations while 144 are undergoing summary hearing.
Apart from the 81 that have been dismissed from service, 20 police personnel were demoted and 31 suspended.
According to Triambulo, there have been a total of 3,518 deaths linked with anti-narcotics operations by the PNP since the drug war began, but human rights groups have reported numbers as high as 13,000.
Last week, PNP-IAS found that the two Caloocan City cops that allegedly shot and killed 19-year-old Carl Angelo Arnaiz did so intentionally. PNP-IAS then recommended for the dismissal of the two.
The cops are also facing a double murder complaint from Arnaiz’s relatives and the relatives of his companion, 14-year-old Reynaldo “Kulot” de Guzman, who was also found dead.
Apart from the two Caloocan cops, 58 other Metro Manila police are were also recommended for dismissal.
In September, more than 60 Caloocan City police personnel were relieved of their duties and underwent retraining following the publicized controversies linked with the city’s police force.
Even with all these cases, Duterte said last week that he plans to have the PNP lead the drug war again, after turning operations over to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in October and effectively suspending the drug war for the second time.
“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.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque took back this statement last Sunday and said that the President was still thinking about whether or not he will do this. Yesterday, PNP Chief Ronald Dela Rosa told the press that the force is preparing to once again head the operations at “full speed with extreme caution” should the president decide to give them a go signal.
