MANILA – The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Sunday vowed to maintain the gains it achieved in addressing criminality and illegal drugs throughout the Duterte administration.
This, after Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar said the peace and order situation in the country has improved under the leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“We welcome the statement made by Secretary Andanar,” PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said in a statement.
Eleazar said the improvement of peace and order was supported by the PNP data and public perception “because they experienced it in the last five years.”
“The challenge now is how to sustain it and this is the reason why we keep on implementing aggressive reforms and security adjustments to continuously deny criminal elements and other threat groups from preying on our kababayan. The PNP vows to sustain the gains made by this administration in achieving peace and order in the society. Hindi naming ito sasayangin (We will not waste it),” he added.
Andanar said crime volume in the country has already decreased by at least 64 percent since Duterte took power, adding that the heightened efforts against criminality and illegal drugs have contributed to this achievement.
The PNP has been saying even before that most of the crimes in the country are connected to the use of illegal drugs. This was proven by the sudden decrease in crime when aggressive anti-illegal drugs operations were conducted since July 2016.
Eleazar promised that the organization would continue its mandate of protecting the public against lawless elements, adding that this includes the aggressive internal cleansing as part of the Intensified Cleanliness Policy.
A total of 5,240 erring policemen were dismissed from the service since Duterte assumed the presidency, 163 of these dismissed cops were kicked out of the service since May 8 this year when Eleazar was appointed as the Chief PNP.
He also urged the public to cooperate and work with authorities in attaining the goal of having a peaceful society that is free from atrocities.
“Sa ngayon, hindi lamang peace and order ang aming tinututukan dahil patuloy kaming magiging kabahagi sa layunin ng ating pamahalaan laban sa Covid-19 sa gitna ng patuloy na pagtaas ng mga kaso sa mga nakalipas na araw (For now, we are not just focusing on peace and order as we will continue to be part of our government’s goal against Covid-19 amid the ever-increasing number of cases in recent days),” Eleazar said.
Illegal drugs campaign
As of July 31 this year, the government has confiscated a total of PHP62 billion worth of illegal drugs, controlled precursors and essential chemicals, and laboratory equipment.
According to the government’s latest #RealNumbersPH data, anti-drug law enforcers have also dismantled 835 drug dens and 18 clandestine laboratories.
The operatives have also arrested 303,154 individuals, including 12,489 high value targets, while 6,181 persons died during the 210,312 anti-drug operations since July 1, 2016.
The government data released by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency on Saturday also showed that 22,585 barangays have been listed as “drug-cleared” while 12,731 have yet to be cleared from illegal drugs.
The operatives have also so far rescued 3,869 children involved in illegal drug activities and arrested over 1,000 government workers, including 388 elected officials and 119 uniformed personnel, in anti-illegal drug campaign.
More than 1.2 million drug dependents also voluntarily surrendered themselves to be rehabilitated. (PNA)
