Albayalde open to putting rogue police under ‘Operation Tokhang’
IN an effort to strengthen the internal cleansing program of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Director General Oscar Albayalde on Monday said he was open to the idea of subjecting rogues to “Operation Tokhang,” the government’s campaign against illegal drugs.
“Yes, of course. Why not? If we are implementing Tokhang to our fellow citizens who are on the watchlist, why can’t we do it to police personnel also?” Albayalde said in Filipino.
He said “Operation Tokhang” should be for everyone, even those who hold power in government.
Albayalde said that the rights of these erring policemen subjected to Operation Tokhang would be observed.
“We can put them in Tokhang provided that we are not violating their individual human rights. That is the most important thing here, right?” he said.
As of August 9, the Counter-Intelligence Task Force (CITF) has arrested 87 erring police officers since 2016. Some were allegedly involved in drug-related activities like PO2 Ian Rey Abitona, an alleged drug protector and dealer in Infanta Quezon who was killed on August 9 in a buy-bust operation-turned-shootout.
Four others were killed in separate police operations, which all happened under the term of Senior Supt. Romeo Caramat Jr., CITF director.
President Rodrigo Duterte last week revealed that he has a “special unit” that would watch over rogue police and said that he has ordered to have them killed if they would commit a crime.
Operation Tokhang, which former PNP chief Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa first introduced, was first enforced in Davao City, where he once was head of its police force. The operation gained notoriety because of the allegedly “violent” manner in which it was carried out, causing the deaths of thousands of drug suspects. ROY NARRA
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