Spare no one (2)
The call of Secretary Abalos is justified because the threats they received after recent drug operations must have led them to conclude that there is a clear and present danger to society if these ranking officers involved in the illegal drug trade are not weeded out of the service.
Indeed, the two incidents we mentioned show the brazenness of these “rogue” enforcers in conducting their trade. It appears from the profiles of those who were arrested that they were widely experienced and had been in the service spanning a decade or more. They were assigned to different regions of the country, but on the days of their arrest, they were selling shabu in the nation’s capital.
The police sergeant major was linked to an inventory of almost a ton of shabu in his place of business, WPD Lending Inc. This shabu inventory makes his business a multi-billion-peso endeavor capable of buying protection, influence, and power. He was not merely in the drug business — he was in the drug cartel business.
The quantity of shabu involved raises serious questions about the efficacy of the PNP organization. It undermines public trust in the PNP’s
“Former President Rodrigo Duterte always highlighted his hatred of drugs as addiction leads to a breakdown of the family and further poverty.
commitment to uphold the law and protect the citizenry from the scourge of drug addiction.
The involvement too of ranking officers of drug enforcement agencies sends a signal to small-time drug pushers in the barangays that they could operate with very little risk of getting caught, especially if they sourced what they distribute from high-ranking drug enforcement officers of the PNP.
Simply put, what this approach of the administration reveals to us is that President Marcos is sincere and serious about tackling the drug problem. In taking to task the entire leadership of the PNP, the President displayed to the Filipino public his political will, that he will spare no one in the effort to clean up the ranks of the police organization.
The recent announcement too that Mayor Benjamin Magalong will be part of the five-man committee gave a huge lift to the credibility of the government approach.
Mayor Magalong’s 38 years of service in the PNP is unblemished. He is known to fear no one. His loyalty is only to the truth and his sworn duty as a law enforcement officer. He was objective and fearless in leading the investigation into the Mamasapano clash in 2015. As CIDG head, he was behind “Oplan Cronus” which led to the discovery that high-profile inmates in the New Bilibid Prison were involved in the extensive drug trade.
Recent events have shown that the war on drugs must always be at the forefront of
“The involvement too of ranking officers of drug enforcement agencies sends a signal to small-time drug pushers in the barangays that they could operate with very little risk of getting caught.
every administration. Former President Rodrigo Duterte always highlighted his hatred of drugs as addiction leads to a breakdown of the family and further poverty. The anti-drug efforts should be relentless because the threat will always be present, especially in a developing economy such as ours where drug dependency is high.
(As of Friday, 13 January 2023, Secretary Abalos announced that 95 percent or 904 of the 954 generals and full colonels of the PNP had filed their courtesy resignations)