War on drugs remains PDEA’s battle – Roque

Without any new written order from President Duterte, the war on drugs task remains with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said yesterday.

In a Malacañang press briefing, Roque said the President should be allowed with “absolute discretion” on whether or not he will transfer the lead task of the government’s war on drugs campaign back to the Philippine National Police (PNP) or when he will do the order.

“I will just reiterate that unless he issues the necessary written directive, it remains with the PDEA, and let’s leave it at that,” the spokesperson said.

Roque admitted that the last time he heard the President discussing it was last week when the Chief Executive met with the families of the Maguindanao massacre victims.

“That’s why I know that there is no final decision on it because the way he talked about it was it’s still at that point, where he is considering it,” he said.

While he acknowledged the need to clarify the matter, Roque insisted that decision to return the anti-illegal drugs campaign to the police “is one of those areas subject to Presidential prerogative.”

PNP memorandum Meanwhile, Director-General Ronald dela Rosa, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said they will stand by the memorandum circular in the conduct of the government’s war on drugs.

“We will not change the memorandum circular. We stand by it; we studied it hard before we issued it. Whether it is right or wrong, we stand by our conviction that it is good,” said Dela Rosa.

The memorandum circular is currently the issue in the petition filed before the Supreme Court (SC) against the Oplan Tokhang of the PNP.

The war on drugs has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 illegal drugs personalities in police operations.

The legal discussion particularly centers on the use of the word neutralize which is being deemed as kill. But Dela Rosa insisted that it does not mean that way.

“The meaning of neutralize is to render them ineffective in carrying out their atrocities for their criminal acts,” he said. (With a report from Aaron B. Recuenco)