PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) chief Oscar Albayalde admitted Monday, May 7, that illegal drugs remains a big problem despite the arrest of nearly 150,000, the surrender of over a million drug personalities and the killing of over 4,000 suspects.
“Sa totoo lang talagang malaki pa ang problema natin on illegal drugs. We must admit that,” he said during a press conference dubbed #RealNumbersPH in Camp Crame.
But he said the PNP and the government is winning the war, in terms of reduction in crime incidents.
From July 1, 2016 to April 30, 2018, the PNP said a total of 4,251 suspected drug personalities were killed during the conduct of 98,799 anti-illegal drugs operations.
The operations also resulted in the arrest of 142,069 drug suspects, the surrender of 1,271,163 drug dependents and the recovery of 2,676.60 kilos of illegal drugs worth P13.81 billion.
Of those arrested, the PNP said 217 were elected government officials, 239 were government employees while 48 were from the uniformed personnel which are on top of the 302 police personnel who tested positive for illegal drugs.
Of those who surrendered, 184,252 persons have already graduated from the government's recovery and wellness program initiated by the PNP and the programs supported by the community centers.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Camilo Cascolan, who was also the former director of the PNP Directorate for Operations, said the PNP is continuously monitoring those who underwent and graduated from the government’s recovery and wellness program to ensure that they will not resume using illegal drugs.
Albayalde said the PNP and the government are winning the war as indicated by the “significant decrease” in crime incidents as well as the challenges being faced by street pushers.
“Una nakita natin ‘yung pagbabago. Ang pinakamalaking indication dito is the effect on our peace and order dahil makita natin ‘yung pagbaba ng crime volume, crime incidents natin all over the country so meaning merong pagbabago. Hindi parang walang kwenta ‘yung ginagawa nating war on drugs. Ito ang malaking epekto,” he said.
(We have seen changes and the campaign's impact on the peace and order situation. The biggest indication is the decrease in crime volume.)
“Medyo kumonti na lalo na ‘yung mga street pushers na nakikita natin yung pagbili ng drugs kagaya ng dati na para kang bumibili ng sigarilyo sa kalsada. Ito ang mga indications na nakita natin na merong pagbabago dito at medyo mahirap na basta-basta makabili ng illegal drugs sa kalsada. Even marijuana, ‘yung mga talagang talamak sa illegal na droga... So ito mga indications that we are winning or in the right track dito sa war on drugs,” he added.
(There are fewer street pushers. Buying illegal drugs now is no longer as easy as buying cigarettes. This indicates that we are on the right track and we are winning the war on drugs.)
Albayalde said among the factors that aggravate the country's problem on illegal drugs are the corruption and the failure to secure the country’s sea boarders which are now being used by the drug syndicates to bring illegal drugs into the Philippines.
He said these are the matters that the government is addressing right now for a more efficient fight against illegal drugs.
Albayalde said the PNP for its part is intensifying its internal cleansing after he admitted that there were police personnel who were using the war on drugs for corruption.
He said the figures which were presented were still expected to go up as the government continue its war on drugs.
“Ang sinabi lang naman ni presidente hindi tayo titigil not until the last drug pusher or supplier is behind bars, doon lang tayo titigil sa war on drugs (The President said we will not stop until the last drug pusher or supplier is behind bars),” Albayalde added. (SunStar Philippines)