Osmeña welcomes back PNP in city’s anti-drug operations

OSMENA (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña welcomed the resumption of the Philippine National Police (PNP) war on drugs after the President announced that he was calling back the PNP to rejoin efforts to rid the country of illegal drugs.

“It is absolutely needed. Drugs will destroy this country. As emotional and as dirty his mouth was, the President was telling the truth. What the President is doing when he is saying he is declaring war (on drugs), he is right. He is absolutely right,” Osmeña said.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said he would have to call the police back to his war on drugs, as the narcotics menace became resurgent during the campaign’s suspension.

Duterte also said the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), which took over the campaign when the police’s war on drugs was suspended, will continue to supervise anti-illegal drug operations.

Osmeña said that while he believed that PDEA-7 has done a great job, the efforts were not enough because of PDEA’s lack of manpower. PDEA, he said, cannot sustain the war on drugs, alone.

“It is coming back. Even if we did not stop, it has always been there. It is like an infection, you stop your medication, of course it will spread again. So it must be constant,” Osmeña said.

The mayor noted the police comeback should not only be intensified but must be sustained. To assist the PNP, Osmeña planned to deploy one hundred canines in the city to help sniff out illegal drugs in the city. “I wanted to bring (it) up to the President but I did not want to clutter his mind anymore, but I wanted to put up 100 dog canine here in Cebu. Sniffing dogs,” the mayor said. He said he will include full time handlers. “To make it more ambitious, the handlers will be former drug dependents,” Osmeña added.

Reports reaching Osmeña claimed that illegal drug operations in barangays had returned after PNP was removed from the country’s anti-narcotics drive amid several controversies involving police scalawags.

PNP cleansing

Last Jan. 30, on orders of President Duterte, PNP chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa prohibited all policemen from conducting anti-drugs operation following the death of a Korean businessman in the hands of rogue cops inside Camp Crame. Instead, Dela Rosa said the police will prioritize the cleaning of its own ranks.

In Cebu on Friday, the director of the Cebu Provincial Police Office announced the relief of all policemen in one of the police stations under him for alleged involvement in illegal activities.

“This sends us a message. The norm for policemen should be good. Policemen should stay away from illegal activities,” said Senior Supt. Eric Noble while refusing to name the station whose entire police force he had relieved.