Duterte orders PNP not to interfere in PDEA drug raids

FILE – A PDEA agent inspects the illegal drugs confiscated inside a drug den raided by authorities in Subic. ALLAN MACATUNO/Philippine Daily Inquirer

President Duterte said he had directed police to move away if they see any anti-drug operation and just leave the matter entirely up to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Mr. Duterte, in an interview over PTV aired Friday but taped on Thursday, said he himself would no longer “interfere” in the anti-drug operations.

His move was in response to criticism over the deaths in the drug war.

“You know why? Because that is what you want, you are blaming the government for almost everything,” he said.

“If there are drug operations, I told police do not interfere. If you see a chase and they say it’s drugs, you leave. Let them be. So if somebody dies, the priests, you go to PDEA,” he added.

He himself doesn’t want to have anything to do with the drug war anymore and leave it all to PDEA.

“I will not anymore interfere. Di hugas kamay. Ayaw ko talaga, di ako naghugas, ayaw ko na (I am not washing my hands. I just don’t want to be involved anymore. I am not washing my hands, I don’t want it),” he said.

Asked about whether he thinks the PDEA could take on the drug network on its own, he said it’s the human rights advocates who win.

“Human rights should help the PDEA. They should go after [the drug lords],” he said.

In a speech in Dumaguete, Mr. Duterte said his decision to make the drug war the sole responsibility of PDEA could have grave consequences.

He said he had done this because that was what the people wanted. Anyway, the law says the PDEA should be the lead agency in drug operations, he added.

“Now, if the PDEA can do it, well, that’s what you want, to pinpoint the responsibility and anyway, the law says it’s the PDEA who would be the lead agency. Okay. But that is fraught with so many grave consequences. But it’s being appreciated by the priests, by the human rights,” he said.

He did not elaborate on what these consequences were.

He said he took a risk with his decision.

“I gambled on that, but everybody knows, the military and the police, the consequences of that could be far more serious,” he said.