Calabarzon cops ready to rejoin drug war minus ‘Tokhang’

LUCENA CITY—With the resurgence of the illegal drug trade, police in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) are raring to rejoin President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.

Chief Supt. Mao Aplasca, Calabarzon police director, said the Philippine National Police had been receiving resolutions from local governments and private organizations asking the police to resume the crackdown on narcotics.

Aplasca said he was just waiting for instructions from Mr. Duterte and Director General Ronald dela Rosa, the PNP chief.

No more ‘Tokhang’

But there will no more “Oplan Tokhang,” he said, referring to the door-to-door police campaign that left thousands of bodies on the streets and provided a new way to die in the Philippines: “nanlaban” (fought back).

“There will be major changes in the drug operations once we receive the go-signal,” Aplasca said in a press conference here on Tuesday night.

More than 7,700 people have been killed by police and unknown assailants since Mr. Duterte launched the drug war after taking office on June 30.

Mr. Duterte suspended the war on drugs in January after a series of scandals involving narcotics officers, including the kidnapping for ransom and murder of Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo.

With the PNP sidelined, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) took the lead in the fight against drugs. Mr. Duterte also ordered the military to help the government fight drugs.

Archie Grande, PDEA director for Calabarzon, shared Aplasca’s observations about the resurgence of the illegal drug trade in the region.

“We also have the same assessment based on our latest intelligence reports,” Grande said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

“The pushers and users feel they can easily avoid arrest due to the absence of policemen. That’s the reason for the return of illegal drug[s],” he said.

Boost for PDEA

Citing Mr. Duterte’s announcement that he would call the PNP back to the war on drugs, Grande said the police would soon rejoin the PDEA in the narcotics crackdown.

“The PNP’s return to the drug war is a welcome development considering our limited manpower and resources,” he said.

Aplasca said once the police rejoined the campaign, there would be strict screening of officers who would be deployed for the fight against drugs.

“We will also strictly monitor the conduct of the operation even before its implementation,” he said.

Aplasca lamented that the kidnapping and murder of Jee had destroyed the successful police campaign against illegal drugs.

“The sad reality is we are very successful during the first six months of the antidrug campaign and in fact the public perception of the PNP had gone very high. But because of one incident, all our efforts [during those] six months went down the drain,” he said.

But lessons were learned from the scandal, he said.

“In our eagerness to conduct antidrug operations, we forgot to watch some of our men,” he said.