MANILA, Philippines — Don’t do drugs if you want a bloodless anti-drug campaign.
This was the message of Philippine National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa as the police prepared to resume the controversial "Oplan Tokhang" anti-drug campaign Monday.
While he expressed optimism that police operations during anti-drug campaigns will be less violent this time, dela Rosa could not fully commit that the measure would stop the blood from flowing.
“I cannot give you a fool-proof anti-drug campaign. I cannot gove you 100-percent bloodless anti-drug operations,” he said in a televised press briefing.
"Tokhang", a portmanteau for the Bisaya words for "knock and plead", was launched in 2016 as a campaign to ask suspected drug personalities to surrender to authorities for rehabilitation to avoid arrest.
Dela Rose noted that anti-drug campaigns depend on the reaction of drug personalities.
"If I could just control the minds of drug personalities: please don’t be violent, don’t fight back so our drug operations will be bloodless," he said in Filipino.
The police chief added: “Along the way of addressing this problem, we also have to protect ourselves. We also have to preserve our own lives."
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president Romulo Valles appealed to police operatives to always follow the law in dealing with suspected drug personalities.
“Let us inspire them to follow the necessary steps when they need to apprehend and, as much as possible, we make sure that we do not waste any lives,” the archbishop of Davao said.
Human rights watchdogs estimate that more than 12,000 have been killed during the course of the government’s brutal war on drugs.
But according to the latest #RealNumbersPH release, there have been 6,309 drug-related deaths from July 1, 2016 to January 17, 2018. Of these cases, 2,235 were tagged as homicide cases under investigation.
READ: Tokhang relaunched today
‘New’ Oplan Tokhang
Starting today, police will return to knocking on the doors of suspected drug personalities.
“Let me underscore that the rule of law will always prevail during the conduct of all anti-drug related activities including Oplan Tokhang and respect for human rights shall be observed at all times,” dela Rosa, under whose watch police anti-drug operations have been suspended twice, said.
Last week, PNP released new supplemental operational guidelines on Oplan Tokhang, where policemen knock on the doors of suspected drug suspects and urge them to stop their illegal activities.
One of its salient points is the conduct of house visitation from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and only on weekdays.
“These supplemental guidelines are essentially founded on fundamental principles of respect to human rights and adherence to the rule of law,” dela Rosa said.
He, however, admitted that the PNP did not consult human rights advocates for the new Oplan Tokhang guidelines.
Oplan Tokhang was suspended earlier following reports of summary killings and other abuses allegedly committed by police officers.
The police force was brought back into the fold of the drug war in December 2017 to support the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, which is the lead office in the campaign.