The Philippine National Police on Wednesday said alleged incidents of “palit-ulo,” or head swapping, in the war against drugs had never been sanctioned by police officials.
Senior Supt. Dionardo Carlos, the PNP spokesperson, urged Vice President Leni Robredo to be more specific in her allegations that police in poor communities had taken hostages, either the wife, husband, or relative of a drug suspect who had not surrendered under the government’s “Oplan Tokhang” campaign.
“Clearly, this is not right. If this is happening, our request is let us be specific because this is not sanctioned. This is not in the policy or procedure of Tokhang,” Carlos told reporters.
He said it would help if those making the allegations would identify the victims and specify where and when these incidents happened.
Carlos reminded the public that those who surrendered under Oplan Tokhang should desist from using and trafficking in drugs. “Tokhang is not an amnesty so we still arrest them if they do not change,” he said
Carlos said it would also have been better if the PNP was consulted first before allegations of palit-ulo were aired in an international conference.
“I hope they had consulted us because we have an office that deals with human rights violations,” Carlos said.