The Southern Police District (SPD) will be knocking again, this time, on the doors of high-end condominium units as part of the second phase of Oplan Tokhang, which means “appeal to stop drug use”.
Chief Supt. Tomas Apolinario, SPD district director, said yesterday the second phase of Oplan Tokhang that started this month will include high-rise condo buildings in the affluent cities of Makati and Taguig.
“Next target ay condos ‘yon ang plano namin. May mga initial coordination na kami and ang prospect namin ay sa Makati and Taguig,” Apolinario said.
On Monday, the SPD conducted operations in some exclusive villages in Makati such as Forbes Park, Magallanes Village, Urdaneta and San Lorenzo.
He said that around 60 houses were knocked and given campaign materials and urged the residents to report suspicious activities in their area.
Yesterday, Apolinario said they again conducted Tokhang in Magallanes Village.
“Pero sa phase two, hindi ibig sabihin na mga nasa drug watch list ang kinakatok. It’s more on information dissemination. We’re giving out flyers about our campaign against illegal drugs,” Apolinario said.
However, Apolinario clarified that this not makes the condo owners exempted from the law.
“If we find out that they are involved in illegal drugs then they won’t be exempted from the law,” he said.
The phase one of Oplan Tokhang, derived from words toktok (to knock) and hangyo (plead), was done by knocking on the houses of suspected drug personalities and asking them to surrender.
Apolinario said that those who are living in exclusive villages proved to be more cooperative during their initial operation.
“Mas cooperative sila siguro dahil may sarili silang security,“ he said. (MARTIN A. SADONGDONG)