MANILA: Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Monday gave his support to the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) recalibrated strategy to focus more on the sources and supply chains of illegal drugs instead of street-level pushers and users.
Escudero pointed out that the PNP should have taken this approach a long time ago to catch drug lords and not just petty drug pushers.
“From the start, we should have focused on the supply chain given that the raw materials for shabu and cocaine mostly come from abroad,” the Senate President said.
If the PNP succeeds in its “new strategy,” Escudero said there would be a shortage in illegal drug supply in the country.
“I agree and support this new strategy,” Escudero said in a statement. “It will make the supply of drugs scarce and price prohibitive for new and old users, and hopefully lower the prevalence of drugs and the number of drug users in the country.’
PNP Chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil on Sunday announced the shift in the organization’s anti-illegal
drugs strategy, saying that the recalibrated approach aims to be more effective and less bloody by ‘prioritizing human rights and addressing the drug problem at its core.’
The finetuned strategy calls for intensified intelligence operations and community engagement to identify and dismantle drug trafficking tworks, Marbil added.
During his third State of the Nation Address, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. expressed his disagreement on a violent approach in handling the country’s drug problem, saying it should not intend to kill the suspects.
Under the Marcos Administration, PHP44 billion worth of illegal drugs were seized in its more than 71,500 operations with 97,000 drug personalities arrested.
Meanwhile, Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa and Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros also wished the PNP success in its recalibrated strategy against illegal drugs.
“I wish them good luck and I hope and pray that they will succeed,” Dela Rosa, a former PNP chief who implemented the Duterte administrati
on’s war on drugs and Oplan Tokhang, said in a statement.
He, however, said the police force was not discriminative in going after drug suspects under his watch.
“We were not selective in the implementation of the Dangerous Drugs Act. All violators of the law — drug lords, drug pushers, drug traffickers, drug users — were targeted in our anti-drug operations,” he said.
In separate statement, Hontiveros reiterated her disagreement with the Duterte administration’s approach.
“Napatunayan na ng kasaysayan na hindi epektibo ang Oplan Tokhang. Umaasa ako na magiging mas matibay at mas makatao ang pagpapatupad ng bagong stratehiya na ito na matagal nang dapat pinagtuunan ng pansin (History has proven that Oplan Tokhang is ineffective. I hope that the implementation of this new strategy, which is long overdue, will be stronger and more humane),” she said.
She said this rules-based strategy should directly target organized drug syndicates and other drug-related crimes which include money laundering, extortion,
and narco-trafficking.
“But solving a problem of this magnitude requires a comprehensive, holistic strategy,” she said, stressing that addressing the demand side through harm reduction, treatment, and prevention is also crucial to the campaign.
Source: Philippines News Agency
