The 125 names tagged as drug personalities by village officials and compiled by the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (Cocpo) will be targeted for arrest, not for liquidation, an official of the city police office clarified on Wednesday, June 1.
"Sa report engage sila sa illegal drug activities, bina-validate na yan as of this time, if proven they are invovled, huhulihin cla kaagad," Chief Inspector Victor Cacdac, officer-in-charge of Cocpo's Operations and Plans Branch, said.
But Cacdac warned that police will not hesitate to use the necessary force if suspects resist arrest or fight back.
"It's a case to case basis, it depends on the different situations," Cacdac said.
The arrests of suspected drug personalities in the list has, in fact, begun.
Policemen of Police Station 3 in Agora, working hand in hand with agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-Northern Mindanao, conducted a joint operation around 11 a.m., Wednesday, June 1, in Barangay Lapasan.
One Yuni Tanato, a suspected drug pusher, was arrested in the joint operation.
Six plastic sachets of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride, locally known as "shabu," were recovered from Tanato, according to Police Station 3 commander Chief Inspector Ariel Philip Pontillas.
Tanato is now detained at the Police Station 3 jail facility.
Pontillas said the suspect is included in the initial list of drug personalities in their area of responsibility.
Pontillas said he has also conducted a Police Information and Continuing Education (Pice) for the station’s personnel.
The session, Pontillas said, tackled the PNP’s intensified campaign against illegal drugs.
Pontillas said he also reminded policemen that cops caught dealing with illegal drugs will not be spared from the campaign.
He said he will have zero tolerance for involvement in illegal.