“We wage the war on drugs because we value life.”
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa on Monday asked the public to trust the police force because they put a premium on the value of life even in the conduct of their war against drugs.
Dela Rosa made this appeal after Pulse Asia released a survey showing that 73 percent of the Filipinos believe that state-sponsored killings exist in the government’s brutal crackdown on illegal drugs.
READ: 88% of Pinoys support war on drugs; 73% say EJKs happen—survey
“We wage the war on drugs because we value life; if we don’t value life and we value money, we will just receive (bribe) money from the drug lords,” Dela Rosa said in a forum hosted by Kamuning Bakery in Quezon City.
If the PNP indeed disregarded life, even that of drug suspects in the drug war, then they would have just protected drugs lords and personalities in exchange of money, Dela Rosa stressed.
“Magbibigay sila ng pera sa amin, tanggapin namin para hindi namin pakialaman ang drugs but because we value life kaya tayo nagwewage ng drug war,” he said.
(They would give money to us so that we can take it and not meddle in their drug dealings but because we value life, we wage the war on drugs.)
Dela Rosa again defended its controversial “Oplan Tokhang,” which was criticized by many as it had led to the deaths of thousands of suspected drug individuals.
“What’s the essence of Tokhang? Knock and plead, katukin ang bahay ng drug personality at pakiusapan na, ‘Please, huminto ka na. Mag bagong buhay ka.’ Hindi namin binabaril agad ang mga drug personalities (Knock on their door and plead with the drug personality saying ‘Please stop with the drugs and change your life for the better.’ We don’t shoot the drug personalities immediately),” Dela Rosa said.
Last week, the Malacañang issued a directive replacing the PNP with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) as the lead law enforcement agency in the government’s drug war.
The police chief argued that this does not mean that the “PDEA values life more than the PNP does.” /je