General Dela Rosa assures return of ‘Oplan Tokhang’

Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief, Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa gave broad hints here on Thursday that “Oplan Tokhang” Part 2 would be launched soon as the drug problem throughout the country is now fast coming back (Photo: Philippine National Police/Facebook)

LAOAC, Pangasinan—Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief, Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa gave broad hints here on Thursday that “Oplan Tokhang” Part 2 would be launched soon as the drug problem throughout the country is now fast coming back.

He, however, did not indicate when this will be finally started when he spoke during the inauguration of the newly built police station of Laoac town.

Dela Rosa was welcomed by the mayor of Laoac, Silverio Alarcio, Jr., who is a retired police general and also president of the Pangasinan Mayors’ League.

Oplan Tokhang was stopped when some scalawags of the police used this in their illegal activities, one of which and the most serious was the kidnapping and murder of Korean businessman Jee Eck Joo.

No less than President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the police to stay away from anti-illegal drugs operations and to instead focus on internal cleansing to weed out the scalawags.

In the meantime, all anti-drugs operations were put in the hands of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), which, however, has few personnel in the field to mobilize.

De La Rosa assured that Oplan Tokhang 2 will not be bloody as they studied well the lapses in the implementation of Oplan Tokhang 1.

The inauguration of the new police station of Laoac was attended by Governor Amado Espino III and Pangasinan Police Provincial Director Ronald Oliver Lee.

Also in attendance were Police Director Roel Barcena Obusan, newly appointed director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) who is a native son of Laoac, Pangasinan; and Chief Supt. Charlo Collado, newly named police director of Region 1.