President Rodrigo Duterte. MALACAÑANG FILE PHOTO
An official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Monday welcomed the suspension of President Duterte’s war on drugs, saying it would give drug users a chance at rehabilitation.
“Knowing that they’ve stopped the war on drugs it means they should stop the extrajudicial killings, we can now focus on the rehabilitation of the surrenderees,” Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said.
Pabillo is head the CBCP Episcopal Commission on the Laity.
On Monday, Director General Ronald dela Rosa, chief of the Philippine National Police, announced the suspension of the war on drugs and the disbandment of the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG) to give way to a cleansing of the police ranks. The AIDG was involved in the abduction and murder of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo on Oct. 18 last year.
The PNP is forming a counterintelligence task force to weed out dirty cops.
Pabillo said many drug users who turned themselves in did not come to the Catholic Church’s drug rehabilitation programs out of fear for their lives.
More than 7,000 drug suspects have been killed by police and unknown assailants since President Duterte launched the campaign after taking office in June last year.
In Manila, a drug rehabilitation program dubbed “Sanlakbay sa Pagbabago ng Buhay” was launched in the parishes by the archdiocese’s Restorative Justice Ministry to help in the rehabilitation of drug users who surrendered to the police./ac