Manila cops’ target: 35K druggies yielding by Dec

The Manila Police District (MPD) said it expects 35,000 drug users and pushers to surrender under the Oplan Tokhang program by the end of the year, as the city government assured it of logistical support to meet its antidrug objectives.

The MPD director, Senior Supt. Joel Coronel, set this target as he reported that 92 suspects had been killed and 476 others arrested in police operations from July 1 to Aug. 17.

The number of surrenderers has reached 10,027 as of Aug. 17, Coronel said on Friday.

“Our target until December will be something like 35,000, so we’re only about one-third (of the total) as of now,” Coronel said. “We’ve advised them to surrender and many did comply.”

Launched by the Philippine National Police under the Duterte administration, Oplan Tokhang sends policemen out to the homes of known drug users and pushers, asking them to come out in the open and be documented, based on a list provided by village officials.

Critics, however, note that while the PNP had been aggressively conducting the campaign without any court-issued warrant in slum communities where the surrenderers are too poor and powerless to question Tokhang’s legality, it approaches posh subdivisions cautiously lest the lawmen be sued.

Coronel also said the MPD’s antidrug operations during the same period seized some P3.7 million worth of illegal drugs and 92 pieces of firearms.