At least 1,000 police personnel and representatives from different government agencies joined the nationwide relaunching of Tokhang campaign, yesterday.
Police Regional Office (PRO-7) Chief Supt. Robert Quenery said the march entitled “Lakad: Tokhang Relaunched Lipulin at Kalampagin ang Droga” would help in clearing the misconception of Tokhang.
“In the past it was given with a different meaning. There are some sectors that tried to discredit the original intent of tokhang which is to knock and plea,” Quenery told Cebu Daily News.
Supt. Reyman Tolentin, PRO-7 public information officer, said that since they started the operation of Tokhang last December 5, they had already visited at least 322 houses identified having drug personalities in the region.
He said since they restarted the campaign, 308 drug dependents surrendered, 72 of which were drug pushers while the rest were drug users.
Also, about 1,172 individuals were arrested from Dec. 5, 2017 to Feb. 24, 2018 while five drug personalities were killed during the anti-illegal drug operations.
Tolentin is also calling on drug dependents to stop their illegal activities and to heed the police’s call to surrender.
“We are calling them to get out from their comfort zone and surrender,” he said.
Those who joined the walk included the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) and the Bureau of Fire Protection in Central Visayas (BFP-7).