A funeral car accompanies operatives of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) in an operation called “Oplan Bandilyo” which involves the use of a hearse to lead police vehicles in a convoy warning illegal drug personalities of two possible scenarios: surrender to authorites and end up in a police car or persist in their illegal activities and end up in a hearse. (GMA 7 BALITANG BISDAK)
To ramp up their campaign against illegal drugs, police authorities are now exploring new strategies to convince drug personalities to quit their illegal activities and submit to authorities.
The Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 has ordered all police stations in the region to couple their Tokhang (Toktok Hangyo) operations with another strategy called Oplan Bandilyo.
While Tokhang is a police strategy that literally means to knock on the doors of drug users and pushers and appeal for an end to their illegal activities as law enforcers turn on the heat, Oplan Bandilyo involves the use of a hearse to lead police vehicles in a convoy to the house of the person included in their watch list or around a drug-infested community.
Instead of playing a funeral anthem, the convoy will blare out the Operation Tokhang jingle.
“Bandilyo” is a local term which means “to announce loudly or blare out.”
Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) deputy chief for administration, Supt. Artemio Ricabo, said that the operation aimed to increase awareness among drug dealers and users regarding two scenarios that were likely to happen to them in light of the Duterte administration’s all-out war against illegal drugs.
“We want the drug dependents to know that in this anti-drugs campaign, they have two options: surrender to the authorities and end up in a police car or persist in their illegal activities, be killed, and end up in a hearse,” he said.
CCPO mandated all eleven police stations in Cebu City to make the necessary arrangements with funeral parlors so that they can conduct the operation in their areas at least once a week.
They were also ordered to submit a weekly report bearing all the details of Operation Bandilyo for assessment purposes.
While the operation is already being regularly done in Manila, in Cebu, Oplan Bandilyo started in the towns of Dalaguete in the south and Tabuelan in the north earlier this month.
According to the Philippine National Police (PNP), this strategy resulted in the surrender of a greater number of drug personalities as opposed to not using a hearse in the operation.
Last week, Cebu City Police Station 4 in Barangay Mabolo conducted Oplan Bandilyo, but station authorities have yet to turn in their report, said Ricabo.
Oplan Pokemon
And while thousands of “Pokemon GO” players search far and wide for “pocket monsters,” police authorities in Central Visayas are cooking up another anti-drug strategy inspired by the insanely popular mobile game application.
Titled “Oplan Pokemon,” Ricabo said the police office is still in the process of refining the concept of the operation, but the idea stemmed from the whole concept of catching Pokemons.
“The concept of the operation is much like catching Pokemons. When we see a drug dependent, we go after him and catch him,” said Ricabo.
The operation still involves the basic process of Oplan Tokhang which is the collection of a drug personality’s information and its validation before Oplan Pokemon is launched against the target.
“We are rolling out these efforts in the hopes of eradicating illegal drugs within the time frame that President Duterte has enforced, which is within three to six months. Maningkamot mi nga buhaton tanan pwede namo mahimo (We will do our best to do everything that we can do),” Ricabo said.