The Philippine National Police said yesterday that 240 suspected illegal drug personalities nationwide have been killed in its intensified campaign against illegal drugs from July 1 to July 22.
Chief Supt. Camilo Pancratius Cascolan, chief of the PNP directorate for operations, said 3,228 individuals were also arrested in various anti-illegal drug operations.
Cascolan added that 120,209 individuals turned themselves in as part of their “Double Barrel” campaign. He said that they have also visited 63,972 houses of illegal drug personalities.
The officer said that their death toll does not include those gunned down by suspected vigilantes.
“Those are deaths under investigation. Those kind of incidents are given to the Directorate for Investigative and Detective Management for investigation. Persons summarily killed have to be investigated,” Cascolan said.
Cascolan warned chiefs of police, provincial police directors, and police directors for operations who underperform or not doing well in their jobs.
He said that they will be sacked or removed from their positions unless they perform better.
“Kung titignan ninyo po sa arrested pusher, house visitations pa lang ho those with less than 1,000 are Regions 2, 4-B, and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). We understand the situation in Maguindanao because of the situation there. It’s not easy to visit the house and knock on door,” Cascolan said.
“For Negros Island Region, Regions 2, 4-B, and ARMM, we will be coming out with our evaluation for the said regions and we will give it to you.”
“We will be warning them na dapat (they should) double their efforts for them to rebound. In a span of six weeks, there will be a lot of chiefs of police and police directors that will be relieved for not doing their jobs,” he said. (FRANCIS T. WAKEFIELD)