‘Tokhang’ to save, not take, lives, says PNP chief

BANGUED, Abra — The police are out to convince communities that their controversial antidrug operation, “Oplan Tokhang,” is meant to save, not kill, people, Director General Ronald dela Rosa told student athletes here.

That’s the “real spirit” of Tokhang, Dela Rosa, the Philippine National Police chief, said when he developed it during his stint as Davao police director from 2012 to 2013.

Tokhang was first enforced in July 2016 when President Duterte undertook his war on drugs. But it drew flak from human rights groups for the subsequent rise in the number of suspects killed during police operations.

Tokhang was “not about killings” but was a way to convince drug users to stop and seek rehabilitation, and drug peddlers to stop their trade, Dela Rosa said during the opening of the Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association meet here on Sunday.

“We have to present the real spirit of tokhang to our communities. So far so good, it’s going on smoothly,” he said. “There is no room for ‘kalokohan’ (foolishness).” —Reports from Karlston Lapniten and EV Espiritu