PNP chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa. (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA)
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa assured the public on Friday of a “bloodless” Oplan Tokhang as the police force prepares to return in the controversial anti-illegal drug campaign of the government.
“Ang kaibahan [ng kampanya ngayon] is siniguro namin na at patuloy na sisiguruhin na totoong Tokhang ang gawin hindi ‘yung pasukan ng kalokohan ng pulis,” Dela Rosa said in a chance interview at the turnover ceremony of police cars and K-9 units in Malinta, Valenzuela City.
(The difference of the campaign is we will and continue to ensure that the real Oplan Tokhang will be implemented and will not be injected with abuses of the police.)
“Actually, bloodless lang talaga ang Tokhang kasi ang spirit ng Tokhang, if implemented properly, is knock and plead lang eh,” he added.
(Actually Tokhang is really bloodless because the spirit of the campaign, if implemented properly, is a mere knock and plead.)
“Tokhang” is a mix of Visayan words “katok” or knock, and “hangyo,” which means to plead.
According to Dela Rosa, the PNP might start conducting Oplan Tokhang starting this week or within January.
He also said that the PNP is mulling over the purchase of body cameras to make sure policemen are following standard operating procedures during operations.
Dela Rosa further said that the increase in the salary of uniformed personnel under Joint Resolution No. 1 signed earlier by Mr. Duterte should motivate the police and dissuade them from committing wrongdoings, especially during Oplan Tokhang.
The PNP was removed from President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody crackdown against illegal drugs in October 2017 amid public outrage against the death of teenagers Kian Loyd delos Santos, Carl Angelo Arnaiz, and Reynaldo “Kulot” de Guzman in the hands of policemen.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has since taken the helm of the government’s so-called drug war.
But two months later, the PNP’s role in the brutal anti-illegal drugs campaign was resumed to assist the PDEA, which admittedly has a limited number of personnel to conduct anti-drug operations. /kga