PNP grateful for drug war budget

The Philippine National Police (PNP) is thankful the 2017 national budget provides what it considers its needed budget for the drive against illegal drugs.

“The PNP will work hard to ensure that the anti-drug campaign in the next six months will reach its target,” said PNP spokesman Senior Supt. Dionardo Carlos. “The PNP is grateful that the needed operating budget is made available. The police will continue the fight against drugs, crime and corruption.”

Earlier, Sen. Richard Gordon said the PNP has enough funds to wage its campaign against illegal drugs under Project Double Barrel, which simultaneously targets highlevel drug traffickers and street-level pushers.

Gordon said the PNP has a hefty amount to work with, given the P900 million allocated for Double Barrel in the 2017 national budget.

The senator said the amount is separate from the P468.1million PNP intelligence fund for this year, bringing the police’s total budget for 2017 to P111.6 billion.

Gordon said lawmakers are willing to allocate more funds to the PNP to help end extrajudicial killings and crime.

From July 1, 2016 to Jan. 5 this year, the PNP’s Project Double Barrel Alpha reported that 2,180 drug pushers and users were killed after trying to put up a fight during police anti-illegal drug operations.

The PNP said 43,577 drug personalities were arrested in 40,577 anti- drug operations in almost six months of the Duterte administration.

Police reported that over a million drug personalities, including 75,111 pushers and 942,758 users, surrendered after more than six million operations in Project Tokhang, where the police go house-tohouse to persuade those involved in illegal drugs to stop.

Earlier, the PNP reported that law enforcers had accounted for 70 percent of 1.8 million personalities in its drug watch list in the official records of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB).

President Duterte had claimed that based on the estimate of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, (PDEA), the Philippines is now home to up to four million drug users.

PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa clarified that the PNP’s 1.8 million figure was based on DDB records culled in 2010, or only half the number of addicts that the President had estimated.

Dela Rosa, however, said the PNP is not contradicting the President, “we just used as basis the records produced by DDB in 2010.”

“We are victorious in the drug war, 70 percent. We did it, 70 percent of 1.8 million is 1,260,000,” he added.