Pushers give up en masse

Alleged drug addicts and pushers wait to undergo drug tests following their surrender to authorities at Camp Karingal police station in Manila on June 22, 2016. AFP FILE PHOTO

DAGUPAN CITY—Bonuan Gueset, a seaside community of over 23,000, is this city’s most populous barangay but ranked third in the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) list of villages in Pangasinan province with the biggest number of drug pushers and users.

So when incoming President Rodrigo Duterte warned anew that drug addicts would be dealt with severely during his administration, about 500 illegal drug abusers and peddlers came out in Bonuan Gueset and promised authorities that they would stop “at their own free will.”

The scene has been played out in cities and towns in many other provinces and in Metro Manila since Duterte won the presidency last month on a campaign platform of punitive action against drug trafficking and addiction, criminality and government corruption.

On Sunday in Cebu City, Duterte said drug addicts were better off dead if they could no longer be rehabilitated because they would eventually commit crimes to sustain their addiction.

In Quezon City, outgoing Philippine National Police  Director General Ricardo Marquez corrected public perceptions that the antinarcotics police operations started to intensify only after Duterte’s poll victory.

From January to mid-June, “we already accounted for more than 18,000 illegal drug personalities and confiscated more than 680,000 grams of ‘shabu’ (methamphetamine hydrochloride),” Marquez said in a speech on Monday during retirement honors for him at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

President Aquino, who appointed Marquez to his post last year, attended the ceremony.

Marquez also said 183 fatalities were tallied in “encounters between police officers and clandestine [drug] laboratory workers, drug pushers and users.”

Promissory notes

Ricardo Mejia, chair of Bonuan Gueset, said the drug users and pushers who turned themselves in signed promissory notes which, he pointed out, could incriminate them in a criminal complaint.

He said he would not give authorities the notes which were “just for the purpose of cross-checking in the future when law enforcers furnish me a list again.”

Mejia said signing the documents would not remove them from the list of illegal drug users and pushers because the village council would keep them under surveillance to make sure they kept their promises.

“Night and day, [drug users and dealers] come to see me. This [Monday] morning, three people came to sign the promissory notes. Even those who were hardheaded have softened after seeing drug-related killings on television,” he said.

“At first, they were afraid to come out in the open because they assumed I would send them to jail. But I told them that as long as they promised to stop, I would give them a chance,” he said.

Chance to reform

In his meetings with village residents, Mejia admitted that he had used drugs but was given a chance to reform.

“I tell them: ‘I am not ashamed to admit to you that I once committed a mistake, but I have changed since then. I’m telling you this because I believe everyone is capable of changing for the better,’” he said.

He said it would have been easy for him to just report everyone to the authorities and claim a P50,000 reward because the police and the PDEA regularly gave him a copy of a list of drug abusers and peddlers.

“But I tell them, ‘I didn’t send anyone to jail. But if you get jailed, it’s your fault. If you get killed because you fought those who are arresting you, it’s your fault,’” he said.

Mejia said that among those on the list were his son, brother, nephew and a grandson. “I told them—because they are my family—that if they don’t stop, I would not want them killed by those who are killing drug suspects. So, they have changed,” he said.

Eastern Police District

Anticipating a promise of a changed life and free rehabilitation, some 300 suspected drug users who were on the watch list of the Eastern Police District (EPD) in Metro Manila have given up over the past two days as lawmen mounted Oplan Sagip Bukas, Oplan Kapa and Oplan Tokhang.

The watch list contains 710 names, Senior Supt. Ariel Arcinas, EPD spokesperson and chief of directorial staff, told the Inquirer. It included 200 from Pasig City, 100 from Mandaluyong City, 23 from Marikina City, and  nine from San Juan City.

“They are treated as victims here, not as suspects, who can change,” Arcinas said.

Aida Concepcion, acting head of the Pasig Antidrug Abuse Council, said the city government would try to shoulder the rehabilitation of the suspected users. Admission fee for an eight-month program costs around P4,500, she said.

Those who surrendered were told to attend spiritual, livelihood, medical and physical health seminars.

Senior Supt. Jose Hidalgo, Pasig police chief, said that if they would not change after undergoing rehabilitation for three months, they would be held liable.

“It is hard to change without intervention. When we heard we will be under the amnesty program, we thought it was the chance for us to change,” said 61-year-old John (not his real name), a company driver who was into drugs for 20 years.

As the Marikina police under Senior Supt. Vincent Calanoga launched Oplan Tokhang (Operation Knock and Warn), 24 suspected drug users showed up at the police station on Monday and signed sworn statements “regarding their involvement in illegal drugs.” They vowed not to get involved again in any illegal drug activities.

The police took their fingerprints and mug shots.

Davao del Sur

In Digos City, Davao del Sur province, at least 130 drug pushers and users surrendered to officials of Barangay Tres de Mayo on Monday afternoon. They feared for their lives, said the village chief, Oscar Bucol.

Glen, 17, admitted that he started using drugs a year ago. Mar and his wife Perlas confessed that they had no jobs and were forced to sell drugs. Another pusher named Boyet disclosed that his source was an Army soldier.

Supt. Dario Gunabe, provincial police chief, said charges would not be filed against those who gave up, but they would be placed under surveillance.

They will be given livelihood assistance by the local government, while some will be endorsed for admission to a rehabilitation center, Digos Mayor Joseph Peñas said.

Zamboanga City

In Zamboanga City, more than 40 people, 23 of them pushers, surrendered to the police station in Barangay Ayala over the weekend and five more in the villages of Tetuan and Sinunuc.

“Three of the 23 are classified as among the top 10 most wanted in Ayala,” said Chief Insp. Helen Galvez, spokesperson of the city police.

Supt. Luisito Magnaye, the city police chief, said among those who surrendered in Tetuan were sons of barangay officials and tanod (watchmen). With reports from Jaymee T. Gamil in Manila; and Orlando B. Dinoy and Julie S. Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao