PNP chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. yesterday said there are around 3,000 scalawags in their watchlist, adding the police force is building up a case against them for involvement in illegal drugs and extortion, among others.
In an ambush interview at Camp Crame, Acorda was quick to say the number is considered “very minimal,” noting the police force has 228,000 personnel.
“We will pursue the case buildup against these people, against these personnel. Our monitoring against them is continuing,” Acorda.
“We are 228,000-strong and if you are going to count those in the CIW (counter-intelligence watchlist), it might not even reach 3,000. It’s very minimal,” said Acorda.
“We have been monitoring these personalities, these scalawags, and my instruction is for the intelligence community to work to make sure they are not going to do more illegal activities,” said Acorda.
He said he has asked police commanders to intensify counter-intelligence operations to rid the police force of erring personnel.
“I am encouraging our commanders at all levels to make sure their CI (counter-intelligence) function (is working). It’s the responsibility of all commanders to make sure that their CI function at their respective level is functioning,” said Acorda.
Acorda also urged the public to report to the PNP cops involved in illegal activities.
“Let us be brave enough. If possible, come out in the open and detail the illegal activities of our police so that we can cleanse our ranks,” he told the public.
Ridding the PNP of rogue policemen is one of the thrusts of Acorda, who assumed command as PNP chief last April 24, replacing now retired Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr.
SOUS ON THE SPOT
Acorda also said he is considering the abolition of the Special Operations Units (SOUs) under the PNP Drug Enforcement Group.
“That is one (plan) and we are studying it,” Acorda told reporters.
The SOUs of PDEG National Capital Region and Calabarzon figured in the controversial raid of a money lending company in Manila in October last year, leading to the seizure of 990 kilos of shabu worth P6.7 billion.
Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. had accused the PNP of a “massive attempt” to cover up the arrest of M/Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr., the owner of the lending firm.
Abalos presented a video showing Mayo in handcuffs at the lending firm but he was later freed. Mayo was declared arrested with two kilos of shabu, worth P13.6 million, in a follow-up operation in Quiapo, Manila the following day.
PDEG director Brig. Gen. Faro Antonio Olaguera initially reported the plan a few days ago.
Olaguera said the plan was to consolidate the regional SOUs and consolidate them at the PDEG headquarters at Camp Crame.
Acorda said the plan was to empower the regional drug enforcement units (RDEUs) of PDEG if the SOUs will be abolished.
“We will allow the RDEUs to conduct aggressive operations at the regional and provincial levels, the drug enforcement units,” Acorda said, adding he wants PDEG to conduct “aggressive and honest operations.
“We want our (cases) to succeed in court, our conviction rate will be high. If possible, we want it (conviction rate) at 100 percent,” said Acorda.
Acorda welcomed a recent circular issued by the justice department in connection with the investigation of drug-related cases.
“They (DOJ) came up with a circular…wherein prosecutors will be on board in the earliest stage of the investigation. This is a very welcome move,” he said.
CATAPANG ORDER
Bureau of Corrections Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. yesterday ordered an investigation into the alleged sale and use of illegal drugs inside the San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm (SRPPF) in Zamboanga City.
Catapang directed the leadership of the SRPPF to look into the suspected involvement of BuCor personnel and inmates in the illegal activity.
Catapang’s order came after Aharayam Jaide, a wife of an SRPPF inmate, was nabbed for trying to smuggle P18,000 worth of shabu into the facility while visiting her husband.
A BuCor statement said Jaidi was turned over to the custody of the Zamboanga city police after three plastic sachets containing alleged illegal drugs were found in her underwear when she was frisked by jail guards.
Catapang said the investigation will also cover an incident last May 5 wherein a cell leader caught four inmates having a pot session in their detention cell.
“This prompted the SRPPF officials to subject the eight PDLs who shared the same cell to a drug test and seven, including Jaidi’s husband, were found to be positive for drug use,” the BuCor said.
The said inmates have been moved to a cell separate from the rest of the inmate population, where they will be held for a maximum of two months.
Their Good Conduct Time Allowance which allows inmates to shave off a certain time in their sentence due to good behavior will be suspended for one year.
The SRPPF has an inmate population of 2,625 as of January this year, though it has only a capacity for 733 inmates, for a 265 percent congestion rate.
UN APPROACH
The United Nations said it is working to have more public health approaches to tackle the drug use problem in the Philippines.
This amid President Marcos Jr.’s recent admission that law enforcers have committed abuses during his predecessor’s deadly crackdown on the illegal drugs trade that saw thousands killed in what police said were mostly “nanlaban” cases.
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) senior policy advisor Olivier Lermet disclosed the approach during a conference held in Antipolo City with the theme “Compassionate Pragmatism: Dialogue with Community Partners on the Public Health Approach to Substance Use.”
In attendance were representatives from local government units, national government agencies, civil society groups, and members of the media.
Reading the Antipolo Declaration, Lermet said its Technical Working Group on the Human Rights-Based Approach to Drugs set four main objectives in addressing the problem of substance use and abuse, namely, increase in the availability and voluntary access to a range of appropriate human rights-based and scientifically informed services that include health, social and developmental support for persons whose lives include drugs and an increase in the capacity to address cross-cutting issues in drug control, according to the Nelson Mandela Rules, Bangkok Rules, and Havana Rules among others.
The UN General Assembly unanimously adopted in 2015 the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and named them in honor of the late South African president who was imprisoned for close to two decades in an isolated island for his campaign to end the apartheid system in his country.
Meanwhile, the Bangkok Rules or the UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders” is a set of 70 rules focused on the treatment of female offenders and prisoners adopted by the General Assembly December 22 2010, while the Havana Rules called for upholding the rights and safety and promote the physical and mental well-being of juvenile offenders.
The third and fourth aim set in the Antipolo Declaration is “strengthening of international cooperation on drug control based on the principle of common and shared responsibility and in line with international standards, strengthen joint action at national, regional and international levels to accelerate implementation of joint commitments to address the world drug problem; and develop and implement a communication strategy on human rights based-approach to drugs.”
“The Joint Programme will work towards the fulfillment of these strategic objectives through cohesive approaches and joint efforts of the United Nations, Philippine Government, including the Commission on Human Rights, and the civil society,” Lermet added.
UN Resident Coordinator Gustavo Gonzales said Marcos Jr.’s recent statement acknowledging abuses in the anti-drug campaign is a welcome development since it means a concrete step forward in resolving the problem, particularly as a public health challenge and not merely a law enforcement one.
“In this sense, we welcome the recent statements by the President of the Republic at the Center for Strategic Studies in the United States, on the critical importance of a holistic approach to the drug challenge,” Gonzales said.
He said the UN will work in partnership with the government to address the challenge.
“My presence here is to confirm the commitment of the United Nations to be part of the solution-hand-in-hand with concerned partners-in addressing the human impact of the so-called war on drugs in the country,” he added.
Earlier, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the government will tap the funds from the Joint Programme to capacitate government doctors and forensic specialists, as well as law enforcement authorities, in investigating “wrongful deaths” in the anti-drug war.
Last November, the Philippine government accepted 200 recommendations made by member-states of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to further improve and protect the country’s human rights situation, with Remulla saying then that the Marcos administration will do its utmost to strengthen domestic accountability mechanisms to deliver “Real Justice in Real Times’ to Filipinos.
A total of 289 recommendations were made during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Philippines’ human rights situation and Remulla said the responses for the remaining 89 will be submitted to the UNHRC “in due course.”
Among the recommendations accepted by the Philippine government, according to Remulla, were the National Human Rights Action Plan, combating discrimination and gender-based violence, maintaining a moratorium on the death penalty, preventing extra-judicial killings, conducting independent investigations on human rights violations, decongesting prisons, further expanding access to justice, protecting human rights defenders and journalists, promoting the rights to education, health, and adequate standard of living, upholding the rights of persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, women, children, refugees, and stateless persons. — With Ashzel Hachero
