PNP chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr. yesterday said the police force is reviewing its strategy in the war against illegal drugs, adding it might be patterned after the government’s campaign against the New People’s Army.
“Right now, we are crafting a strategy in the war on drugs, we will reinforce those made by our past commanders,” Azurin told a press briefing at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame.
Specifically, Azurin said the PNP will study the strategy on drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction.
“We wanted to copy our strategy at the NTF-ELCAC,” Azurin, referring to the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict that was formed in 2018.
NTF-ELCAC is adopting a whole-of-nation approach to end the more than 50 years of insurgency. The task force is chaired by the President and includes heads of various government agencies, including chiefs of the Armed Forces and the PNP.
“It will be a holistic approach wherein every agency must be involved in the war on drugs. They should be involved, so what we want is role-playing,” said Azurin.
Azurin said he had suggested during a meeting with US officials in Hawaii last week that there is a need to improve collaboration in the fight against illegal drugs and other crimes.
“First, we informed our friends in Hawaii that we really need to have good intel sharing, specifically in addressing transnational crimes because it has become borderless with the advent of technology,” said Azurin. “So there is a need to improve our strategy as far as exchange of information is concerned.”
