Senate probe won’t stop PNP’s war on drugs – Bato

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa assured the people yesterday that no Senate investigation could stop the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs.

Dela Rosa said he and other police officials would attend the Senate hearing called by the committees on public order and dangerous drugs jointly with civil service, government reorganization and professional regulation; health and demography; national defense and security; youth, and finance.

“No, kahit na anong imbestigasyon dyan (whatever investigation) that will come our way, we are determined to finish this in six months,” said Dela Rosa when asked if he shared the apprehension of Sen. Panfilo Lacson that the illegal drug campaign could lose momentum after the Senate investigation.

“I don’t care kung ano mang (whatever) investigation ang dadating dyan (will come our way). I will continue to motivate my men to exploit the momentum. The momentum is on our side. We don’t have to slow down, we will continue the fight,” he added.

Earlier, Lacson advised police officials to keep cool during the Senate hearing on the campaign against illegal drugs, particularly about the deaths of over 1,200 so-called drug personalities.

Quoting PNP reports, Lacson said there were 681 people killed by vigilante groups and 612 killed in various police operations from July 1 to Aug 13.

“They should really be careful in answering questions but they should not also deviate from the truth. Because they can be found out if they perjure,” Lacson added.

Dela Rosa explained that some of the killings of suspected drug pushers conducted by alleged members of vigilante groups could be a result of the war among drug gangs.

He claimed that illegal drug syndicates in the country are currently embroiled in a violent war.

“You will be surprised, this is not the handiwork of vigilantes. These alleged vigilante killings, it turned out, are syndicated killings. Groups in illegal drugs,” Dela Rosa told reporters in a press conference at PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

He said the PNP has scientific evidence that the so-called vigilante killings were actually a result of the feud among rival drug gangs.

Lacson had challenged the PNP to stop the killings of drug personalities allegedly perpetrated by vigilante groups.

Lacson expressed alarm over the huge number of people killed allegedly by vigilantes.

Dela Rosa vowed to release more information from the investigation of the Directorate for Investigation and Detection Group (DIDM) based on analysis of the extrajudicial killings and intelligence reports.

After 47 days of intensive police operations, Dela Rosa has expressed satisfaction on the performance of all 18 police regional directors that attended the command conference in Camp Crame.

“Generally I am very satisfied. Our policemen, they are going beyond their mandate,” said Dela Rosa.

Bad luck

Dela Rosa attributed to bad luck the fate of several Chinese drug dealers recently killed in separate incidents.

He said the PNP has no control over the luck or misfortune of drug suspects during police operations against illegal drugs.

Police records showed that three Chinese suspects were killed inside the Davao Penal Colony in Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte last Saturday.

Detainees Wong Meng Pin, Li Ala Yan and Chu Kin Tung were allegedly killed by a fellow inmate at the maximum security cell.

The inmate reportedly suspected the Chinese of informing the jail guards about the cell phones smuggled inside the prison.

On Aug. 12, drug suspects Jacky Huang and Yonghan Cai were among 10 inmates killed after a grenade exploded inside the Parañaque City Jail. Several others were wounded.

Chinese Meco Tan, another shabu laboratory operator, was shot dead by police operatives in Valenzuela City last July 22.

Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also arrested three Chinese nationals during a raid in Binondo, Manila last week.

As of Aug. 15, the PNP Operations Center reported that 612 drug pushers and addicts were killed and 8,623 others were arrested in the anti-illegal drug operations that started last July 1.

A total of 576,176 self-confessed users and pushers have surrendered.

Dela Rosa has been implementing an intensified campaign against illegal drugs as part of the directive of President Duterte to stop the drug problem during the first three to six months of his administration.

He also rejected suggestions that police be issued tasers to be used to neutralize drug suspects.

Dela Rosa said the suspects are armed and dangerous and using tasers would only endanger the lives of law enforcers.

“I don’t see any reason to give them a chance to kill you. No, I will never do that,” the PNP chief said.

He pointed out that drug suspects have killed and wounded several policemen during operations.

He cited the case of Senior Police Officer 1 Roberto Lacasa, who is still at the intensive care unit of the MB Santiago Hospital in Trece Martires, Cavite after a drug pusher shot him during a drug sting operation in Amadeo, Cavite last Aug. 10.

Lady lawmakers hit killings

Five congresswomen belonging to the Liberal Party who have joined the super majority coalition in the House of Representatives have decried the series of extrajudicial killings of suspected drug pushers and addicts.

“In the course of less than two months, this country has become witness to a new and deeply unhappy reality,” said the LP lawmakers led by Batanes Rep. Henedina Abad, wife of former budget secretary Florencio Abad.

Reps. Josephine Ramirez-Sato of Mindoro Occidental, Kaka Bag-ao of Dinagat Islands, Josie Limkaichong of Negros Oriental and Geraldine Roman of Bataan joined Abad, vice president of LP’s Policy and Advocacy.

Sato sits as LP secretary-general and Bag-ao as vice president for Women and Mamamayang Liberal.

In a statement, the female legislators pointed out that while they support President Duterte’s anti-illegal drug campaign, they expressed concern over the killing of hundreds of Filipino men and women, many of them not yet proven to be pushers.

“And all of them were denied their right to due process or the chance to defend themselves,” they said, lamenting those “innocent victims whose lives have been cut short in the midst of the administration’s war on drugs.”

“This is unacceptable. Already, there is a growing demand from the international community for a stop to these extrajudicial killings. Yet here in the Philippines, there seems to be little in the way of a public outcry, except from what appears to be a lean minority,” they stated.

“We, the women of the LP, now add our voices to the clamor against these summary executions. The killings have mostly targeted the impoverished, effectively dehumanizing the poor and marginalized in the process,” they added. - With Delon Porcalla