DILG chief: ‘Palit ulo’ not true

INTERIOR and Local Government Secretary Ismael Sueno on Tuesday belied allegations of Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo of a “palit ulo” scheme of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the government’s war on drugs. “What ‘palit ulo’? There is no such thing as ‘ palit ulo’ in the anti-drug operations of the PNP. I respectfully request the Vice President to please corroborate her statement,” Sueno said.

Robredo, in a You Tube message to a United Nations conference in Austria organized by the DRCNet Foundation, disclosed an alleged “palit-ulo” scheme allegedly perpetrated by the PNP.

The DILG secretary urged Robredo to show concrete evidence about this alleged scheme, where authorities would supposedly take a family member instead, in case the original person on a drug list cannot be found.

“It would help if Vice President Robredo presents to us solid proof about this so- called ‘ palit ulo’ scheme so we can act on it immediately,” he said.

The DILG-PNP leadership, according to Sueno, is open to suggestions from stakeholders on how to effectively win the war against drugs and has, in fact, revised its anti-drug strategy recently with the relaunching of Oplan: Tokhang, had been suspended briefly, as Double Barrel 2.

He said a letter sent by Robredo seeking information on the drug war was forwarded to Catalino Cuy, undersecretary for public order, who, in turn, acted with dispatch by forwarding the request to the PNP. “Wala namang tinatago ang [Nothing is hidden by the] PNP and, in fact, we have always been transparent about Oplan: Tokhang and we have been providing the public regular updates about Tokhang operations through the media,” Sueno added. Secretary has always been cordial to the Vice President and he himself had even paid a courtesy call to Robredo last year to discuss how they can work together to solve jail congestion in the country.