By Martin A. Sadongdong
Over 800 drug personalities have surrendered while no casualties have been recorded so far in the first week of the relaunched and bloodless “Oplan: Tokhang” (knock and plead), the Philippine National Police bared yesterday.
A consolidated report by Chief Supt. John Bulalacao, newly installed PNP spokesperson, to PNP chief Director General Ronald M. dela Rosa showed that from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1, 821 drug suspects yielded to the police in 2,127 Tokhang operations nationwide.
Even though Dela Rosa had said that bloodshed will not be avoided in the resumption of Tokhang, Bulalacao noted that Tokhang operations have been bloodless which he attributed to a “more cooperative and responsive” public.
However, Bulalacao added that 46 drug personalities died in 3,251 anti-narcotics operations under the “Oplan: Double Barrel Reloaded” conducted by the PNP since they returned to the national government’s war on drugs from Dec. 5 to Feb. 1. A total of 4,968 high-value targets were arrested at the same time.
Bulalacao also vowed to intensify their drug campaign efforts as a nationwide survey conducted by the Social Weather Station in the fourth quarter of 2017 revealed that the number of drug addicts in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao have increased while those in Metro Manila have decreased.
“We are glad that the presence of drug addicts in Metro Manila has dropped significantly,” Bulalacao said. “But the survey about the increase of drug addicts in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, we take it as a challenge and we will intensify our anti-drugs efforts in the said areas,” he added.
