Editorial: Oplan Tokhang versus pushers

THE visits the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) initiated on suspected drug pushers is an inspired move, as it manages to skip past possible human rights violations. Oplan Tokhang, the DCPO calls it, for “toktok hangyo (Knock and plead).”

To plead with the pusher to stop whatever he is doing.

Drug addiction is a scourge every society faces and we are most lucky if not one of our loved ones fall into this trap. We all know how good person can change after being addicted; most especially with methamphetamines.

By knocking on a suspects’ door and engaging the suspect to a conversation, the message is clear: the suspect’s activity is known, it will just be a matter of time before law enforcers catches the suspect in possession of the drugs and paraphernalia.

That is the difficulty in drug cases; mere suspicion and even testimonies cannot pin a suspect down, not unless he’s caught with the contraband in his hands.

Thus, the drive against illegal drugs has always been and will always be a cat and mouse game; where the ultimate objective of the cat is to grab the mouse while in possession of the cheese.

We know there are those who took the short-cut and just used the power of the gun to end the game. Others even plant evidences. But many such a case has been dismissed in court, and thus is an exercise in futility.

The pleading part has its own appeal. Imagine the police, smiling through warnings flashed by their watchful eyes. If that isn’t enough to spook anyone involved in illegal activities, then nothing will.

Except that, the DCPO need to do more and fast, to send out the message that this is not a temporary thing or that pushers need only to “lie low” or “magpalamig,” but can be back in full operation as soon as the drive and interest