WITH the drug menace continuing to be a serious national problem, President Marcos Jr. and PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil have announced that the police force is now implementing a recalibrated approach in its fight against illegal drugs.
They said the new approach recognizes that the drug problem is a complex issue, and thus it prioritizes targeting the sources and supply chains rather than focusing on street-level pushers and users.
‘If the drug menace persists after Bongbong Marcos ends his term of office, then both Duterte and Marcos would have failed in this particular effort, despite the obvious differences in their approaches.’
In a statement, Gen. Marbil criticized the previous anti-drug campaign of the Duterte administration, which was bloody and a great user of body bags — at least 6,000 dead in just a couple of years. He said: “Our previous strategies concentrated too much on cutting off the heads, but we need to target the body — the entire supply chain and the sources driving the drug trade.”
For policemen in the field, this means they will have to undertake intensified intelligence operations and stronger community engagement to identify and dismantle drug trafficking networks.
“We are now focusing on high-value drug personalities and movements of illegal drugs across the country. These are the real targets — those who orchestrate the trade and profit from it, not the street-level pushers and users, who are often victims of circumstance,” Marbil explained.
Following Marcos’ policy directive, the PNP chief underscored the importance of minimizing bloodshed as he pointed out that “with this approach, we are not only saving lives but also working toward a better future for our nation. We are committed to addressing the drug issue with compassion, strategy, and adherence to the rule of law.”
This announcement immediately elicited a sharp reaction from Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who was the principal implementor of “Oplan Tokhang,” the feared police drive against illegal drugs during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Dela Rosa, former chief of the PNP before he became senator, insisted that the controversial drug crackdown under the Duterte administration was not selective in going after targets.
The senator said: “We didn’t discriminate as to who we are going to arrest in our war on drugs. We were not selective in the implementation of the Dangerous Drugs Act.”
The hardline approach against illegal drugs by the Duterte administration has been blamed by local and foreign human rights organizations for abuse and more than 30,000 deaths, although authorities said the number stands only at over 6,000.
Dela Rosa added that during his term, all violators of the law such as drug lords, drug pushers, drug traffickers, and drug users were targeted in police anti-drug operations.
It looks like every administration is willing to tweak its predecessor’s policy in the fight against drug abuse so that we can barely hope for continuance in government efforts to solve the problem.
If the drug menace persists after Bongbong Marcos ends his term of office, then both Duterte and Marcos would have failed in this particular effort, despite the obvious differences in their approaches.
