Former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief turned senator Ronald Dela Rosa said the PNP should consider reviving the controversial anti-drug campaign Oplan Tokhang following the amid the apparent return of drug syndicates in the country.
“Yes, kung pupuwede. But then again, I cannot impose to them. They have their own program. We have to support them,” Dela Rosa told ANC’s “Headstart”.
Dela Rosa said Oplan Tokhang, a police anti-drug drive involving knocking on the doors of suspected criminals, was “effective” in reducing criminality.
“Matagumpay ‘yun. Our crime volume went down to almost 50 percent because of Oplan Tokhang,” he noted. “Kaya tayo nagwage ng war (against drugs) in order to make our environment safe and we achieved a lot.”
The President Rodrigo Duterte had issued a shoot-to-kill order if the officers’ lives were in danger.
Official records indicated that some 6,200 people died in the anti-drug campaign, human rights groups estimated the true figure was in the tens of thousands.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who succeeded Duterte, has vowed to continue the drug war, focused more on prevention and rehabilitation.
Dela Rosa also rejected the petition of an International Criminal Court prosecutor to resume its investigation on the drug war and Davao Death Squad killings in the Philippines.
Supporting ICC’s drug war probe will mean disrespecting the local courts, Dela Rosa said. He is one of the personalities included in the charge sheet.
“Ang ating sistema gumagana naman. Bakit tayo magsu-surrender sa kanila? Get out, get out of this country! You are (not) needed here,” Dela Rosa stressed.
The senator admitted he feared the outcome of an ICC inquiry because the war tribunal is composed of foreign judges. With AFP report
