PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday indirectly admitted that the administration’s bloody war on illegal drugs is chaotic.
As a result, he ordered the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to lead the effort in “bringing order” to his war on drugs.
In a memorandum he signed on Oct. 10 but was made public only on Oct. 11, Duterte ordered all concerned government agencies, including the Philippine National Police, to immediately transfer all case files on the drug campaign to PDEA.
“All information/data received by the NBI, PNP, AFP, Bureau of Customs, Philippine Postal Office and all other agencies or any and all ad hoc anti-drug task forces shall forthwith be relayed, delivered or brought to the attention of the PDEA for its appropriate action,” Duterte says in the memo.
PDEA Director-General Aaron Aquino said Wednesday he did not ask Duterte to make PDEA the sole agency in charge of the government’s war on drugs.
“Didn’t ask for it. I still need the PNP. I have only slightly more than a thousand agents,” Aquino said in a text message.
Meanwhile, lawyers on Wednesday filed before the Supreme Court a petition seeking to halt Duterte’s war on drugs and declare it unconstitutional because it has killed thousands of alleged drug users and dealers in Metro Manila.
Jose Manuel Diokno, head of the Free Legal Assistance Group, filed before the high court a petition to declare as unconstitutional the Philippine National Police Command Memorandum Circular 16-2016 and the Department of the Interior and Local Government Memorandum Circular 2017-112.
Diokno said CMC 16-2016, or the “Oplan Double Barrel,” is unconstitutional because it gives policemen a free pass to kill suspected drug personalities; it replaces the police function of evidence-gathering and case buildup with a mere compiling lists of names of suspected drug uses and dealers; and the house-to-house visit under Project Tokhang (Kneel and Plead) are based on the “furtive fingers” of anonymous informants.
Duterte authorized PDEA to arrest all violators of the law against illegal drugs.
He also empowered the agency to monitor and inspect all air cargo packages, parcels and mail in the central post office in coordination with the Bureau of Customs and Philippine Postal Office.
The PNP has been ordered to simply maintain “police visibility at all times as a deterrent to illegal drug activities.”
PDEA, created by Republic Act 9165, is mandated by law to undertake the enforcement of the law against unlawful acts and penalties involving dangerous drugs and substances.
While the administration’s drug war had gained widespread public support, it had also come under fire from local and international human rights groups, which was prompted by the killings of more than 7,000 mainly poor users and pushers.
Controversy arose with the PNP’s handling amid the thousands killed in government anti-drug operations after a South Korean businessman who was kidnapped and later found dead within the grounds of Camp Crame last year.
But after months of hiatus, the Philippine National Police resumed its anti-drug operations with the promise to eliminate the participation of rogue policemen under “Oplan Double Barrel, Reloaded,” only to end up with more killings of teenagers that prompted the recent protests against the administration.
From July 1, 2016 to Sept. 15, 2017, a total of 3,850 drug suspects died in police operations.
Authorities claim that the suspects were killed because they fought the arresting officers.