Calabarzon police tops country’s “war on hard drugs”
By Roselle Aquino
CAMP VICENTE LIM, Calamba City Aug. 10 -- The Police Regional Office (PRO4A) in Calabarzon is at the forefront of the Philippine National Police (PNP) campaign against hard drugs and received an award from no less than President Rodrigo Roa Duterte during the 116th Police Service Anniversary awarding ceremonies on Wednesday in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
PRO4A-Calabarzon Regional Director Chief Superintendent Ma. O R. Aplasca received the award from the President at the fitting rites themed, “Buhay ng Pulis Handang Ibuwis Para sa Katahimikan at Kaayusan ng Bayan," at the national police headquarters.
The Calabarzon police force in the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon was cited for their accomplishments in the implementation of the PNP's “Double Barrel” to “Double Barrel Alpha” until its shift to “Double Barrel Reloaded” since July 2016.
PRO4A’s latest accomplishments showed a total 106, 539 houses were visited under “Oplan Tokhang” with 145,264 drug surrenderers wherein 95,164 were classified as drug users and 50,100 as pushers.
Some 10,087 police operations resulted in the arrest of 16,233 (users at 6,807 while pushers at 9,426).
There were also 380 deaths recorded during the police operations, where 62 were identified as users and 316 pushers.
Calabarzon records showed two police officers died and four were wounded during the hard drug operations.
“Our people are performing well beyond normal capacity, that is why our average arrests daily ranges from 30 to 50 personalities a day,” said Aplasca.
Meanwhile, the increase in arrests of drug personalities and other police operations has resulted in congestion of detainees in the various detention centers in the region.
Currently, there are 283 detention facilities in the region with an average capacity for 3,455 detainees. But by end of May 2017, around 5,059 detainees have been occupying these facilities. Some 3,562 of those detained are with drug cases.
Around 940 detainees have also been diagnosed with medical condition mostly respiratory diseases like tuberculosis and skin diseases.
Some 58 inmates have been reported to have succumbed from cardiac respiratory arrest due to overcrowding.
Local government units (LGUs), the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), prosecutors, judges and concerned agencies have already come up with short- and long-term solutions to address the jail congestion.
Immediate solutions include providing ventilation facilities; scheduling regular visits by local health officers to check conditions of the detainees; and providing available facilities as temporary lock-up cells.
On the part of the courts, fast issuance of commitment order was suggested while long term solutions are being crafted by the Calabarzon LGUs who expressed commitment to allocate funds for constructions of bigger detention facilities.
Out of the 4,018 barangays in the region, around 746 were already certified by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA4A) as “Drug-Cleared” while out of 142 municipalities region-wide, 19 towns have been declared Drug-Cleared.
These include the towns of Cavinti, Liliw, Luisiana and Magdalena in Laguna; Alitagtag, Balete, Cuenca, Nasugbu, San Luis, San Nicolas, Sta. Teresita, Taal and Talisay in Batangas; and General Luna, Macalelon, Pitogo, Plaridel, Quezon and Sampaloc in Quezon.
Aplasca assured the sustainability of the police anti-criminality programs in the region through his Community Mobilization Strategy focused on mobilizing people in the anti- criminality drive.
His initiative on the internal cleansing programs is focused and implemented through the “Return to the Effective, Socially Healthy and Active Person Empowerment (R.E.S.H.A.P.E.) which is a spiritual-based seminar. (Roselle Aquino/PNA)
