City police open to priest, pastor presence in ops
The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) welcomes the idea of letting priests and pastors come along during an Oplan Tokhang operation.
This, after Director General Ronald Dela Rosa announced that he wants to invite priests in asking suspected drug users and pushers to give up the drug trade.
“This will straighten up the misinterpretation that when we do Oplan Tokhang, these individuals will be killed,” City Director Joel Doria said.
Doria said this will boost the engagement between the drug users and pushers with the police and the church, who can encourage them to stop the illegal drug trade.
“If they’re available, why not?” he said.
With this development, Doria said their office is willing to invite pastors who recently blessed the different police stations with spiritual seminars with the “Bless Our Cops” program.
“Because we started it with our police, why not include the persons who will be subjected to Tokhang, too? So that they will change their bad habits through spiritual means,” he said.
The suspension of the Oplan Tokhang was recently lifted following reports that drug personalities were taking advantage of the break.
New anti-drug units are being formed by the 11 police stations in Cebu City after the City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group was dissolved. Officers with a clean track record and good standing are being selected to form the Drug Enforcement Unit headed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEA) 7. /