BIG FISH NEXT

Suspected drug pusher Agustin Delfin is believed to have connections with drug lord Franz Sabalones. (CDN PHOTO/BENJIE TALISIC)

PDEA, police target suppliers, manufacturers, gov’t officials, cops in war vs illegal drugs

Expect the government’s brutal campaign to intensify.

Cebu’s anti-narcotics and police officials have vowed to run after the big fish and cut off the supply of illegal drugs in response to the promise of President Duterte that the campaign against drugs would be “unrelenting.”

Among the high-value targets being focused on are government officials and police personnel who are involved in the illegal drugs business.

Senior Supt. Eric Noble, provincial police director, said they were conducting thorough and in-depth monitoring of drug personalities, including policemen and local government officials who acted as “drug protectors.”

“We have to double our efforts, and that include cleaning our own ranks,” he said.

Senior Supt. Joel Doria, Cebu City police director, said they too were concentrating on catching the big fish including suppliers of illegal drugs and not just the distributors.

Cutting the supply, he added, would stop the spread of illegal drugs.

While the police knew that illegal drugs were sourced from the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa and Cebu City Jail, Doria said they had yet to unmask the people involved.

“We are investigating that. As of now, we are trying to link where and who are involved in illegal trade. We know there is a link to New Bilibid Prison and Cebu City Jail, but as to who are involved, that is what we are digging up,” he added.

Doria stressed the need to find the different sources of illegal drugs in the wake of emergence of new players despite the relentless drive.

He noticed that new players had been arrested in the past months while the known drug personalities had decided to stop peddling.

Two-pronged strategy

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) was also bent on running after not just the drug lords but also the manufacturers as part of its two-pronged strategy in solving the illegal drugs problem.

One approach is to reduce demand by going after drug users and urging them to stop, said PDEA-7 Director Yogi Filemon Ruiz.

He challenged all Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Badac) to make sure that drug addicts reform their lives and, at the same time, encourage others especially young people to stay away from illegal drugs.

“Without the users, walay mamaligya (there will be no sellers),” he said.

The other approach is supply reduction which aims to arrest drug lords as well as drug manufacturers and traders.

“We focus on the high-value targets,” he explained. High-value targets include government officials who are engaged in the illegal drug trade.

Ruiz, Doria and Noble were all buoyed by the pronouncements of President Duterte in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) that there would be no letup in the anti-drugs campaign, which had claimed the lives of more than 7,000 people in the country.

In his Sona on Monday, President Duterte said the fight against illegal drugs would continue and would be “unrelenting” despite mounting criticisms over human rights violations.

Threat to abolish CHR

He even threatened to abolish the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), which has been criticizing his war on drugs.

For law enforcement agencies in Cebu, Mr. Duterte’s pronouncements served as an inspiration to do more in their campaign to eradicate illegal drugs.
Ruiz said they felt the support of the country’s top chief executive, which motivated them to deliver their best.

“(We know) the President is behind us. (Those drug syndicates) should stop while we are still at the point we cannot do everything we want,” he said.
Both police directors of the province and city of Cebu vowed to continue their all-out war against illegal drugs.

“We are happy that the President approved what we are doing, and we will continue with our fight against illegal drugs,” said Noble.

Yogi said the President’s announcements should serve as a warning to members of drug syndicates to stop what they were doing.

“(We have an uphill climb in our campaign) but with the support of President Rodrigo Duterte, we can win this war faster compared to a president who is not giving any support at all,” he added.

CHR-7 chief’s reaction

Sought for comment, CHR-7 Director Arvin Odron said the agency would continue to protect the rights of people and ensure that there would be no abuses on the part of authorities.

“For as long as the CHR exist, it will continue to perform its sacred duty to protect the rights of individuals against human rights abuses of the government,” said Odron in a text message to Cebu Daily News.

CHR chair Jose Luis Martin “Chito” Gascon, in a statement, assured that the CHR would stay.

He said it would take constitutional amendments or Charter change to abolish the agency.

“Any discussion to abolish CHR or any other institution for that matter can be taken in the proposed constitutional-reform process. … In other words, we shall cross the bridge when we get there,” he said in response to President Duterte’s statement that CHR was “better abolished.”

Records from the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) showed that during Mr. Duterte’s first year in office — or from July 1, 2016 to July 4, 2017 — at least 9,466 drug suspects had been arrested.

The PRO-7 also seized a total of 34,039.49 grams of shabu over the same period, valued at P413.5 million.

The drug war also claimed the lives of 396 persons in Central Visayas, more than half of which, or 213, were killed by unknown assailants or suspected to be victims of extrajudicial killings.

Most of the arrests were made at the time when the police implemented “Operation Tokhang,” the controversial anti-drug drive in which policemen knocked on doors of houses of suspected drug users and pushers, herded them into village centers and town halls and made them promise in writing that they would never touch drugs again.

Operation Tokhang was suspended last January after policemen involved in an extortion racket kidnapped South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo, killed him right inside Camp Crame and had his body cremated in a funeral parlor and flushed his ashes down the toilet.

Oplan Double Barrel, Reloaded

Last March, PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa relaunched the anti-drug campaign as “Oplan Double Barrel, Reloaded,” which he said had been overhauled to eliminate the participation of rogue policemen.

Dela Rosa said the PNP was also aiming to make the drug war to be as “bloodless” as possible, and even urged priests to join local police commanders and barangay officials in the conduct of Oplan Tokhang so they could also help persuade drug users to go to rehabilitation centers. \