11,000 people in validated drug list – PNP

Around 11,000 people are now in a police-validated watchlist of suspected drug personalities under Oplan Tokhang.

Police said the number in- creased by 6.79 percent from December 2017 when there were 10,300 drug suspects in the list.

Philippine National Police (PNP) operations chief Director Camilo Pancratious Cascolan yesterday said the increase is normal as validation is a continuing process.

Included in the list are government officials, politicians, pushers and users.

Cascolan explained that the people on the watchlist would be subjected to Tokhang activities.

If the drug suspects do not stop their illegal activities, police will conduct a case buildup against them, he said. “Our drug enforcement units

will monitor their activities,” Cascolan said.

He said the validation process is stringent to ensure only those actually involved in the drug trade are included and avoid implicating people on mere suspicion.

“The list will be indiscriminate if we do it that way,” Cascolan said.

At least 50 suspected drug offenders have been killed in anti-drug operations since December last year.

PNP deputy spokesperson Superintendent Vemily Madrid said 53 drug suspects were killed in alleged armed encounters with police from Dec. 5, 2017 to Feb. 8, 2018.

“Most of these were service of search warrants and buy-bust operations,” Madrid said.

A majority of the slain suspects were in Central Luzon with 22 followed by Soccsksargen with 12, eight in Metro Manila and three in Central Visayas. The rest were in Northern Mindanao, Davao region, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) and the Bicol region.

Madrid said the drug offenders were killed after they fought back instead of surrendering.

A total of 6,253 drug suspects were arrested in 4,058 police operations during the same period.

Tokhang’s latest version remained bloodless with no casualties as of Feb. 8, police said.

A total of 1,573 drug personalities surrendered in 3,456 Tokhang operations, Madrid said.

Tokhang, which means knock and plead in Cebuano, is a program aimed at convincing drug offenders to surrender and reform.

Tokhang gained notoriety for the thousands of drug offenders who were killed, either by the police or suspected vigilante groups.

The flagship project of President Duterte who was elected in 2016 on a promise to eradicate drugs from society, the unprecedented campaign was launched mowing down thousands.

Since Duterte took office, police have reported killing almost 4,000 people in the crackdown.

Another 2,290 have been murdered in drug-related crimes, while an undetermined number of other deaths remain unsolved, according to government data.

Duterte first ordered the PNP to take a step back in January last year following the involvement of several police officers in the killing of a South Korean businessman.

But it wasn’t long before Duterte reinstated the 165,000-strong PNP without any major reforms, re-launching the war under the name “Double Barrel Reloaded” – so-called for the two-pronged police strategy to wipe out drugs.

In October, Duterte announced the PDEA would again take the helm in the face of mounting public opposition, including rare street protests triggered by the murder of three teenagers, allegedly by police officers.

In November, Duterte changed his mind and called on the PNP to once again take the lead in his deadly drug war, citing the resurgence of illegal drug trade.