PNP Chief On Drug War: Killing Not The Solution; Bato Warns Ninja Cops, Narco-Pols Back

The new chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) believes “killing is not the solution” to win the war on drugs.

Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. made it clear on Sunday, Aug. 8, that the PNP will continue clamping down on illegal drugs in the country, but will do it by addressing the root of the problem.

“As [Interior and Local Government] Secretary Benhur [Abalos] said, we should really study the root of this crime. I think that is the very basic approach we could take,” he said.

“What is needed is while we do our job, we also try to preserve human life because killing is not the solution,” Azurin added.

The previous administration made the war on drugs among its top priorities, but faced controversy here and abroad because of reported human rights abuses and the alleged extrajudicial killing of thousands.

Under the new administration, Azurin said he will make an accounting of the anti-drug campaign.

“What is the drug situation in every community? We will ask the barangay captain and the leaders there, so we will know the drug situation,” he said in Filipino. “We will find out what intervention we have to do.”

Shortly after being named top cop last week, Azurin announced that the PNP would be adopting his “M+K+K = K” formula in the Police Regional Office 1 when he was the police director there.

This framework, he said, stands for Malasakit + Kaayusan + Kapayapaan = Kaunlaran (Concern + Order + Peace = Progress).

“Basically, our focus is the crime prevention and the crime solution, and then we need to organize the community and mobilize them so we can have helping hands in maintaining peace and order in the country,” Azurin said.

‘Bato’ issues warning

Also on Sunday, Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa – who was the first PNP chief to implement former president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs – warned that police officers and politicians involved in illegal drugs appear to be coming back with a vengeance.

Dela Rosa, who chairs the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, said it seems these criminals think the Marcos administration may be going soft on illegal drugs unlike the previous administration and that recent drug seizures involving cops appear to suggest this.

He said there must be no letup in the offensive against drug syndicates. “Whatever the agency, the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government), the Napolcom (National Police Commission), to the PNP leadership, they should really ensure that the ‘ninja cops’ will not return to the service,” Dela Rosa told dzBB radio partly in Filipino.

He warned that if ninja cops – a term used for police officers involved in the illegal drugs trade – return to the PNP, there will be a “huge problem” in the country.

The senator said a number of PNP personnel found to be involved in the illegal drug trade were either dismissed or suspended but are now working to be reinstated.

“They were just waiting for President Duterte to leave Malacañang and they will try to find ways to be reinstated using whatever connections they find in whoever is in power. You know in our system of government, they try to find ways,” he said.

The senator warned against the apparent return of “narco-politicians,” some of whom apparently have won or have ties with those who did in the May national and local elections after waiting below the radar at the height of “Oplan Tokhang.”

At the height of the so-called war on drugs, Duterte publicly named and shamed officials and generals from his “narco-list” based on intelligence reports that land on his desk. The former president also repeatedly assured law enforcers of legal protection if they happen to kill suspects while in the line of duty.

The recent arrests and seizures of large volumes of drugs involving police officers should be a red flag for authorities, the senator said.

“They (drug syndicates) became emboldened towards the end of the Duterte administration. They felt the PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) and the PNP were not as resolute as before,” he said.

Dela Rosa was the first implementer of Duterte’s “Oplan Tokhang” and “Double Barrel” when he was PNP chief that was linked by human rights groups and investigators at the International Criminal Court to the alleged extrajudicial killings of thousands during the six-year term of the previous administration.

Recently, he has been receiving numerous text messages from people from various parts of the country lamenting that drug pushers and addicts are again roaming in their barangays.

He said PNP personnel are “very vulnerable from all kinds of attacks coming from any sector” in the performance of their duties. A simple complaint or lawsuit filed before the PNP, Napolcom, or the courts can mean that a long-overdue promotion will not happen.

While strong rhetoric from the President — as what marked Duterte’s campaign — will boost the morale of law enforcers in running after drug syndicates, Dela Rosa said it does not mean Marcos would have to emulate his predecessor.

“They’re at the helm. They’re in Malacañang. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt to implement their preferred approach to these problems. We cannot dictate and say copy the template (of the previous administration). They have their own plans but then again, they should implement those plans so (the campaign) can be felt on the ground,” he said.

“In fairness, he (Marcos) may be thinking that everything’s properly in place, which he inherited from the previous administration, so that he did not mention it in his SONA (State of the Nation Address),” he said.

The former police general-turned-senator said he considers fighting illegal drugs a personal crusade so he would do what he can as chairman of the committee and expect to have a meeting with Azurin in the coming days. – With Paolo Romero