MANILA, Philippines — More drug suspects will be arrested by police officers due to the “harsher” drug war in the Philippines, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Director Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar said on Friday.
“Asahan natin na mas lalo kaming magsasagawa ng (Expect that we will conduct more) case operations so we can target personalities who are suppliers of drugs,” Eleazar told reporters after a press briefing in Makati.
“Kung ano yung ginagawa natin mas lalo pa natin pagsisikapan. Mas marami tayong ma-aresto na mga taong mai-involve sa droga lalo na yung sinasabi nating supplier at magtutulak,” he added.
(Whatever we are doing, we will even exceed that. We will arrest more people involved in drugs, especially against drug suppliers and pushers.)
Eleazar was referring to President Rodrigo Duterte’s warning that his anti-drug campaign will get “harsher.”
“And I am declaring war. I am not declaring a punitive police action. It cannot help and it would not help. So early on I decided, but I think I’d be more — well I said harsher in the days to come,” Duterte said in a speech on Wednesday.
READ: Duterte: Drug war will be ‘harsher in the days to come
Eleazar said they will boost their drug operations because they “mean business” and they want to prove that all their achievements in the past years will not be wasted.
He said this is to inform people that the police mean business and what they have gained in the past will not go to waste.
When asked about the controversial drug-related killings under the Duterte administration, Eleazar said drug operations only becomes bloody because some suspects engage with police officers.
“Yung may namamatay, may namamatay kung may encounter at merong encounter kung meron sa aming lumaban (There have been deaths in police encounters because drug suspects engage cops in a shootout),” he said.
According to Eleazar, since July 2016, they have arrested at least 70,500 drug suspects. /ee