Duterte eyes bringing back PNP to drug war

Dharel Placido, ABS-CBN News

Posted at Nov 22 2017 08:13 PM

MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said he would soon bring back the
Philippine National Police (PNP) to the war on drugs, just over a month after directing the
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to lead the campaign.
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, nilagay ko sa 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 the shabu,” 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 some 3,800 have died
in legitimate police operations, according to police statistics.
Officials said slain drug suspects had put up violent resistance. 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.
In January, the President had also ordered the PNP to step back and allow the PDEA to take the
lead in the war on drugs following the death of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo allegedly
in the hands of police officials.
Jee was killed right inside the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame.
A month later, he ordered the force to go back to conducting anti-illegal drug operations, citing
the resurgence of the drug trade on the streets.
The police has credited the anti-drug campaign in bringing the crime rate down.
 We all know that our president is now doing his job to stop the crime in
our country. The anti-illegal drug campaign named “Oplan Tokhang” was
implemented by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. It is a national law
enforcement project that was implemented all over the country. This was
launched as part of the campaign to warn illegal drug traffickers and users to
stop their activities. Unfortunately, the drug transactions did not stop. There
were many deaths of past operations because some suspect tried to be
aggressive towards police officers.
President Duterte terminated the Oplan Tokhang because of the death of
innocent people in the said operations and the violation of human rights.
However, the problem in drug trafficking worsen. That is why President
Duterte is trying to bring back the PNP to the drug war to help the authority
solve the crime. The Philippine National Police (PNP) is drafting guidelines
on the proper conduct of Oplan Tokhang (knock and plead), which is due for
revival. PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa said the national oversight committee on
illegal drugs was fine-tuning the guidelines to remove “mistakes” in the
previous conduct of Oplan Tokhang. The PNP assures that the operation will
be bloodless and will not violate law.
I am favor for the anti-illegal drug campaign that was implemented by
our President Duterte. Because it is the only way to stop/lessen the crimes that
continuously happen in our country. These illegal drugs such as;
methamphetamine hydrochloride (known locally as shabu) and marijuana, will
eventually destroy someone’s mind and it will lead to committing crimes and
violating the law. This illegal drug will cause things like hallucinations (seeing
strange things), sickness, depression, liver and kidney problems and fits. These
are the effects of taking illegal drugs. I don’t know why people still take drugs
even though they know that it is bad for their health. Maybe they lack in
education or someone forced them to. The worst case may happen about this
drug trafficking is when children will be involved in such cruelty. It can destroy
the minds of the youth. This case needs an urgent solution! Let us help our
country and protect the future of our youth from foolishness of the society.
 Article
Critique
Submitted by:
Kavin E. Gonzales
11-STEM

Submitted to:
Mrs. Rosaline H.
Laporre