PHILIPPINE National Police [PNP] chief Dir. Gen. Ronald dela Rosa on Monday said he will bring 378 police scalawags from the National Capital Region Police Office to Malacañang, where they will be made to clean the Pasig River.
In a press conference, Dela Rosa said the move was in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to bring the errant policemen to him instead of subjecting them to retraining.
Dela Rosa said the President wants the policemen to remove the water lilies clogging the Pasig River as they are becoming a problem for the barge which shuttles the President from Malacañang to Bahay Pangarap across the river.
He added that most of these 378 policemen are not involved in illegal drugs and are only guilty of minor infractions such as being frequently tardy or absent.
The PNP chief earlier said the PNP has to implement immediate disciplinary action on erring cops even for minor offenses so that they do not become accustomed to disregarding rules, which would eventually lead them to think that they can get away with murder.
Also on Monday, Senator Risa Hontiveros said there was no returning to “Oplan Tokhang,” the anti-illegal drug program that was suspended in the wake of revelations that police officers had kidnapped and killed a South Korean businessman, Jee Ick Joo.
Hontiveros said the suspension of Oplan Tokhang was a recognition that a simplistic crime and punishment approach is simply ineffective.
“There is a need for a new and sustainable strategy that is humane, rehabilitative and less susceptible to abuse. We cannot kill our way out of this problem,” said Hontiveros as she filed on Monday a bill that seeks to replace the government’s anti-drug campaign with an “alternative health and law enforcement strategy.”
Hontiveros said her bill aims to provide a comprehensive public health approach to the country’s drug problem and establish appropriate barangay-based programs and services for drug-related issues and concerns. She said that the mistakes and abuses of Oplan Tokhang must not be repeated.
Since July 2016, more than 7,000 drug suspects have been killed. With PNA