Bato reminds cops to follow SOP in handling drug surrenderers

Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa reiterated the standard operating procedures for cops handling drug users or pushers surrendering to the authorities for rehabilitation.

This as the PNP reaches 70 percent of the target 1.4 million drug surrenderers since the drug war started in July.

Based on the PNP’s latest statistics on “Project Tokhang,” 1,028,848 drug personalities, 75,745 pushers and 953,103 users, have turned themselves in to the police and local authorities.

In a statement on Wednesday, Dela Rosa said the SOP is consistent with the “declared policy of the state to [strengthen] mechanisms or measures to assist and re-integrate into society individuals who are victims of illegal drug abuse or drug dependence through sustainable programs of treatment and rehabilitation.”

Dela Rosa also reiterated that drug surrenderers should not be handcuffed and must be subjected to medical examination to be conducted in any government hospital.

“The voluntary surrender is not an assurance that they will not be subjected to drug law enforcement operation when they engage in the illegal drug activity after their voluntary surrender”, he stressed.

Under the PNP SOP Number 01-2016, the PNP’s general guidelines for all officers in handling of drug are the following:

• Ensure that the person who surrendered is doing it voluntarily without duress
• The process in handling should be recorded through video or captured through photo
• Immediately conduct body search on the surrenderer to determine presence of any deadly weapon or dangerous drugs
• Personal data should be recorded in the logbook of surrenderers
• The surrenderer should be referred to the Investigation Section to take the voluntary confession to be signed by the surrenderer and their counsel or by any other counsel except the lawyer of the office where they surrendered to avoid perceived conflict of interest
• Turn over to the Women and Children Protection Desk (WCPD) a minor surrenderer. The WCPD should endorse the minor surrenderer to the local social welfare office in accordance with RA No. 9344, or Justice Welfare Act of 2006.

Furthermore, the police community relations section of a police unit should coordinate with the local government to conduct screening to determine the risk of behavioral conditions and other morbidities.