98% of drug operations compliant with human rights standards – Albayalde

MANILA, Philippines — Amid criticism of the controversial war on drugs, Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde says that 98 percent of the PNP’s anti-illegal drug operations from January to October last year were compliant with human rights standards.

Albayalde said that the figure came out during a review by the PNP’s own human rights affairs office on anti-drug operations conducted from January to October 2018. 

The review came after the deaths of 5,760 drug users and pushers since the start of the war on drugs in July 2016, which drew criticism from many sectors both local and international.

“I would like to point out, however, that despite these deaths a recent survey or review conducted by our own human rights affairs office found that 98 percent of police anti-drug operations over the 10-month period in January to October 2018 are compliant with human rights standards,” he said in a speech at the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) forum in Makati City.

He said the 98 percent figure indicated that the arrest of violators is the primary law enforcement objective in police engagements. 

There were 74,131 persons arrested in 45,688 anti-illegal drug operations during the 10-month period.

Albayalde said that 2018 figures were consistent with the human rights standard that was noted during the 10 months. 

“We are here to serve and protect every member of the community and to make sure that no one is above the law and I would like to further assure you that as a policy the PNP remains firmly responsive to the requirements for human rights in law enforcement,” he added. 

He said that they have yet to receive communication from the International Criminal Court on any inquiry on drug war deaths but they will always be cooperative with any probe. 

Albayalde said there is good indication that the administration is gaining ground or winning the war on drugs due to the downtrend of index crimes in the country. 

Total crime volume dropped by 30 percent to 202,748 incidents last year from more than 675,000 in 2015. 

“Our basis for saying that we are winning is because the continuous decline of our crime volume, improvement on peace and order. This is the best indication that we are winning the war on drugs, it’s because if you are not winning the war on drugs then probably all the other crimes are probably still there,” he said.