Albayalde: We are winning war on drugs

FILE: Albayalde made the statement after presenting the #RealNumbers data from July 1, 2016 to April 30, 2018 (PNA photo)

Roughly a month of being the chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Director General Oscar Albayalde said that the government is winning its war against illegal drugs for a drug-free country.

“It is really hard to quantify but with what we see in its effects, we know that we are winning this war on drugs,” Albayalde said during the presentation of #RealNumbersPH in a press briefing on May 7, Monday.

“There are less street pushers. The situation was not like before that buying drugs on the street was like buying a cigarette. It translates to lower crime volume all over the Philippines but on a personal note, maybe this is more or less half,” the PNP Chief added.

Albayalde made the statement after presenting the #RealNumbers data from July 1, 2016 to April 30, 2018 which showed that the PNP and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) led 98,799 anti-drug operations and of these operations, 142,069 suspects were arrested and 4,251 died.

Two hundred thirty-nine of the arrested were from the government, 217 were elected officials, and 48 were policemen, soldiers, and other uniformed personnel.

The update also bared that about P20.23 billion worth of drugs and equipment were seized in the anti-drug operations, with a total of 2,676.60 kilograms being shabu alone valuing up to P13.81 billion.

However, the PNP Chief also noted that because illegal drugs remain as a big problem in the country, the figures in the data would “definitely” increase. He added that as of now, there are still a few barangays cleared of the illegal narcotics.

He also admitted that in the first six months when PNP launched its campaign, the number of murder and homicide cases involving the use of illegal drugs increased in 2016.

After many criticisms especially on the deaths of drug suspects from the campaign, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte appointed PDEA as the sole agency to lead the drug war. However, in December last year, he brought PNP back in the operations.

The PNP Chief said that after revising several policies and being stricter, the police saw that the murder and homicide cases related to illegal drugs declined by 60 percent.