2,098 cases filed vs PNP personnel over ‘drug war,’ drug use since July 2016 – Fajardo

FILE PHOTO: Philippine National Police.

MANILA, Philippines — Approximately 2,098 administrative cases have been filed against officers and non-uniformed personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP) from July 1, 2016, to November 16 this year over illegal drug use and operations related to the controversial “drug war.”

PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo disclosed this Friday, adding that the complaints resulted in the dismissal of more or less 554 PNP personnel and the demotion and suspension of others.

“From July 1, 2016, to November 16, 2022, the PNP took cognizance of more or less 2,098 cases and from that number, there are more or less 554 PNP personnel that were dismissed from the PNP service. There were those demoted, there were those suspended,” she told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.

“Kasama na rin po diyan iyong nag-positive sa drug use at na-involve sa illegal drug activities (That also includes those who tested positive for drug use and those who were involved in illegal drug activities),” she explained.

She said these figures were drawn from the PNP’s automatic review of police anti-drug operations, including those that resulted in deaths.

“The PNP is periodically conducting review, evaluation and assessment with respect to the manner of execution – to harmonize if there are some police strategies that need to be improved, so that we can improve the manner in which we conduct our operations,” Fajardo pointed out.

The PNP spokesperson’s remark came after a court convicted Caloocan police officers Jefrey Perez and Ricky Arquilita, who had been charged with murder, torture, and planting of evidence in the 2017 deaths of Carl Arnaiz, 19, and Reynaldo “Kulot” de Guzman, 14.

READ: Cop guilty of drug war torture, frame-up of teens

The Caloocan City court’s ruling is the second criminal conviction of police officers involved in former President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs. The first was in 2018, when police officers Arnel Oares, Jeremias Pereda, and Jerwin Cruz were found liable for the murder of 17-year-old high school student Kian delos Santos.

READ: Three cops convicted of murdering Kian

The administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has continued Duterte’s bloody drug war, with the PNP recording a total of 46 deaths linked to the police’s anti-drug operations since June 30.

While a human rights group claimed that the figure was an underreporting of the actual data on drug war casualties since Marcos assumed the presidency, Fajardo said the PNP stands by this number as these were gathered from their police offices across the country.

READ: PNP: 46 killed in drug war under Marcos ‘very minimal’

“We don’t know what their sources are, who their sources are but on the part of the PNP, we just report what is being reported by our line units,” she added.

KGA