MANILA, Philippines — The newest chief of the Philippine National Police wants to usher in a new era in the government's so-called war on drugs by forming a technical working group to probe its strategy, he said Wednesday.
Speaking in an interview over CNN Philippines' "The Source", Police Lt. Gen. Camilo Cascolan, now the chief of the PNP with the retirement of former chief Archie Gamboa, pointed out that the anti-drug campaign's current strategy has become outdated over the years.
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"The strategy on the war on drugs was [crafted] last 2016 [and] should be evaluated now...There should be a technical working group [formed] to discuss the lapses," he said.
"No other problem is able to increase crimes except for drugs...We need to be more focused and have more trained drug enforcement units. Morale should be boosted to improve police performance," he also said.
According to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, poverty incidence in the Philippines was at 16.7%, which meant "about 17.7 million Filipinos living in poverty", in 2018
Cascolan added that his immediate thrust as police chief would be "improving and enhancing all the things we've done, as well as cleansing the ranks."
Rights groups have long rallied against the flagship anti-drug campaign of the Duterte administration, with local and international activists placing the death toll as high as 27,000 although police have a lower number of more than 5,000 killed in operations. These deaths were said to have been caused by "drug personalities" violently resisting arrest.
Palace to Cascolan: Preserve the rule of law
Asked for President Rodrigo Duterte's marching orders for the new police chief, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in an interview on the same program: “Number One, of course, is to uphold the integrity of the rule of law as far as the PNP is concerned."
“Number Two, rid its ranks of corruption...Number Three, sustain the gains of the 'drug war'," he also said.
In a separate statement, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said: "In the face of the Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) global pandemic, we are confident that the new PNP chief will deliver the high demands of public service expected by the public from the PNP as it continues to be a pillar in the battle against this dreadful disease."
International rights monitor Human Rights Watch reported in May that despite the police claim that Oplan Tokhang would be suspended to give way to the administration's pandemic response, the vigilante-style summary executions linked to the government's anti-narcotics campaign went on undisturbed by the coronavirus-induced quarantines.
VERA Files in a report carried by Philstar.com Sunday logged 53 drug-related killings since the announcement of enhanced community quarantine on March up until May, though they were careful to note that not all of the killings were linked to police operations.