THE Philippine National Police (PNP) said it has validated a total of 11,000 names of suspected drug personalities who are on the illegal drugs watchlist.
PNP deputy spokesperson Superintendent Vimellee Madrid said the list contains the names of suspected drug pushers and users from all the regions.
“11,000 so far ang validated na ng DI (The Directorate for Intelligence has validated 11,000 so far). Our validation is a continuous process from time to time so magtataas pa ang bilang na ‘yan (the number will increase),” she said.
“Actually ang prinesent lang from December ay 10,300 tapos biglang naging 11,000,” she added.
Madrid said the 11,000 drug personalities are being subjected to the PNP’s Oplan Tokhang, which involves visits by the police to the homes of drug personalities in a bid to convince them to surrender and turn their back on illegal drugs.
The PNP resumed on January 29 the conduct of the Oplan Tokhang, more than three months after they were ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte to stop its implementation along with the conduct of other anti-illegal drug activities.
Before implementing the Oplan Tokhang again, the PNP revised its guidelines to avoid any irregularities and prevent rogue policemen from using the campaign for their personal gain.
From January 29 to February 8, the PNP said implementation of Oplan Tokhang has been bloodless.
Based on the records of the Directorate for Operations, the PNP has conducted 3,465 Tokhang operations which resulted in the surrender of 1,573 drug suspects.
Madrid said during the visitation, some drug suspects revealed the names of other drug suspects. These are being validated by the DI.
“Kapag ikaw ang surrenderer sasabihin mo na meron ka rin ire-recommend na user din. Hindi naman natin basta paniwalaan kaagad. Iba-validate natin kaya ang process mahaba kasi from BADAC (Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council), chief of police then provincial director, regional director, at saka pa lang mapupunta sa DI,” she said.
“Hindi namin basta i-release ang watchlist dahil malay mo tinuro ko lang dahil galit sa iyo ang barangay captain,” she added. (SunStar Philippines)