Davao bishop: Inspire, not condemn cops in anti-drugs war

DAVAO CITY – Incoming Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president and Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles urged the people yesterday to push and inspire the police to adhere to the rule of law instead of condemning them.

“We will not forget the killings – that’s terrible. One side of it is to inspire the police, remind the police to do their work according to the books,” Valles told reporters in an interview Sunday.

Valles, who will take over as CBCP president on December 1 said he saw the need to address the drug problem because “drugs also kill” in a silent way.

The archbishop said the country did not realize the enormity of the drug problem until President Rodrigo R. Duterte, who served as mayor of Davao City for 22 years, assumed office last June 30, 2016.

The way to address the extrajudicial killings (EJKs) is to address the problem of illegal drugs itself in the country that he described as a “complicated and a messy” problem that has destroyed many lives, he said.

“I’m worried about it (killings). I will also wish to make calculations how many lives have been destroyed by drugs, how many were killed by drugs, how many families were destroyed by drugs. Those are very important questions to me,” he said.

“Grabe ang drugs. Gigunitan gyud ta ba. (Drug problem is a serious one. It controls us.) I cannot emphasize it enough,” he added.

Amid the escalating criticism of the alleged abuses by police in the war on drugs, President Duterte has empowered the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to be the sole agency in charge of the anti-drug operations.

In a two-page memorandum order released on October 10, the President directed the National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Bureau of Customs, Philippine Postal Office and all other agencies or any and all ad-hoc anti-drug task forces to leave to PDEA “the conduct of all campaigns and operations against all those who, directly or indirectly, and in whatever manner or capacity, are involved in or connected with, illegal drugs.”

The President, upon arrival from his two-day working visit in Japan last October 31, acknowledged that PDEA lacks personnel to lead the anti-illegal drug operations but added he is still trying to gauge the situation if it would “improve the overall picture of law and order.”

“If what they are saying is true that it can improve the overall picture of law and order without the police, let’s see. If it’s worsened, let us see. I will say let’s petition before the Commission on Human Rights what they can do,” he said.