Bulacan cops round up 460 ‘tambays’

CAMP GEN. ALEJO SANTOS, BULACAN – The Bulacan police rounded up 460 residents as it enforced the controversial program Oplan RODY (Rid Our Streets of Drunkards and Youths) in 14 towns from Tuesday (June 19) to Thursday (June 21).

Senior Supt. Chito Bersaluna, Bulacan police director, said they arrested 209 persons, most of them minors, for violating curfew hours.

The police also detained 145 persons for drinking liquor on the streets, 98 for loitering and eight for being shirtless.

The police turned over 176 to their respective barangay officials, and 92 to their respective parents and families, Bersaluna said.

He said 107 residents were given stern warnings but 44 were invited for questioning at their respective municipal and city police stations.

Bersaluna said four were turned over to the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office Drop-in Center.

Bersaluna has enforced RODY when he was Caloocan City chief of police.

He said RODY was enforced based on the instruction of Director General Oscar Albayalde, chief of the Philippine National Police, and the pronouncements of President Duterte, whose nickname is Rody.

Mr. Duterte ordered the crackdown on “tambays (loiterers)” when he addressed newly promoted police officers on June 14. He described them as “potential trouble for the public.”