DILG backs 'relentless, chilling' drug war

INTERIOR and Local Government officer-in-charge Eduardo Año on Wednesday, July 25, expressed support for the "relentless and chilling" war on drugs that President Rodrigo Duterte vowed during his State of the Nation Address to continue waging.

“The DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) and our attached agencies are one with the President in his vision of providing a comfortable and peaceful life for every Filipino without the menace of illegal drugs, crime and corruption. We will support him in every step of the way to ensure that this vision will be fulfilled,” Año said.

The DILG chief lauded Duterte for his promise to continue going after corrupt government officials even though it means that he would risk losing some friends.

Despite being criticized particularly by human rights groups, Duterte during his third State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 23, said the fight against illegal drugs will be not be “sidelined” as it will be as “relentless and chilling” as it was on its first day of implementation in 2016.

The DILG is one of the lead agencies implementing the government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign through the Philippine National Police (PNP).

From July 2016 to June 30, a total of 102,630 anti-drug operations have been conducted nationwide which resulted in the arrest of 147,802 drug personalities including 229 elected officials, 52 uniformed personnel and 245 government employees.

A total of 4,354 drug suspects have been killed in the said operations.

Año said the war on drugs has significantly contributed to the reduction in crime volume.

“Under Duterte’s leadership, the Philippines has seen a significant decrease in crimes such as homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft, carnapping and cattle rustling,” he said.

Año said from 1.325 million crimes during the first three years of the previous administration, crime volume decreased to 1.04 million in July 2016 to June 2018.

“This brought efficiency in solving crimes to 62.51 percent and clearing cases to 75.50 percent in June 2016 to July 2018,” he added.

Año said for their part, the DILG is working in making sure that each local government unit has created and activated their Barangay Anti- Drug Abuse Councils (BADACS) to better enforce drug clearing operation at their level.

As of June 2018, a total of 42,029 or 99.96 percent of the 42,036 barangays nationwide including ARMM have organized or reorganized their BADACs.

Of these, 17,663 or 44 percent BADACs have created their own action plans.

Meantime, the PNP said the public has nothing to worry about the “relentless and chilling” operations against illegal drugs.

"There is no reason to express apprehension over the renewed ‘relentless and chilling’ continuation of the anti-illegal drugs campaign," PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Benigno Durana said.

"We take it to mean that our operations must be without let-up to effectively establish the ‘certainty of punishment’ to the drug syndicates, its patrons, protectors, and criminal support systems that sustain the drug trade," he added.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar said the PNP will continue the implementation of illegal drugs operation with the respect for human rights on top of their priorities. (SunStar Philippines)

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