Albayalde cites gains vs. top tier targets in drug war

“I am pleased to announce that of the 9,866 High Value Targets (HVTs) in the list of drug personalities subject to interdiction operations only 918 or 9.3 percent remain unaccounted as of June 30, 2018. Half of these High Value Targets listed comprising 49.2 percent or 4,858 drug personalities have surrendered in Tokhang operations and are now the subject of close monitoring and case review,” Albayalde bared during his regular press briefing in Camp Crame Monday. (Photo: Philippine National Police/Facebook)

MANILA — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde reported significant progress in the government’s efforts to collar high value targets (HVTs) in the war on drugs.

“I am pleased to announce that of the 9,866 High Value Targets (HVTs) in the list of drug personalities subject to interdiction operations only 918 or 9.3 percent remain unaccounted as of June 30, 2018. Half of these High Value Targets listed comprising 49.2 percent or 4,858 drug personalities have surrendered in Tokhang operations and are now the subject of close monitoring and case review,” Albayalde bared during his regular press briefing in Camp Crame Monday.

“Relentless police anti-drug operations accounted for 2,795 or 28.3 percent (of) High Value Targets arrested and are now facing the chilling effect of criminal prosecution and certainty of punishment,” he added.

Some 258 or 2.6 percent of HVTs, Albayalde said, died in police operations even before they can be arrested.

The same happened to 322 or 3.2 percent of HVTs, who became victims of homicide cases under investigation while 654 HVTs or 6.6 percent can no longer be located.

Albayalde said adjunct criminal support systems that sustain the operation of drug syndicates have likewise become the subject of police operations such as gun-for-hire, gun running, carnapping, kidnapping and robbery/holdup gangs, resulting in a significant reduction of overall crime incidents for the past two years.

In an effort to sustain organization reforms, 6,401 PNP personnel face investigations and were penalized including 1,828 dismissed and 3,589 suspended. Another 353 were also suspended for drug-related offenses.

The PNP chief said the list of drug personalities is being scrutinized to validate information on persons and add new persons not previously listed on it.

Crime down due to drug war

Albayalde, meanwhile, noted that the war on drugs has driven down the occurence of crimes in general.

He said crimes against property such as robbery ,holdup ,theft and carnapping has gone down dramatically as a result of the war on drugs.

“Eto yung magandang epekto ng nagsimula tayo ng (This is the good effect of the) war on drugs. Meron ngang kasabihan na yung (They say that) other offenses, kahit minor lang yan (even if these are just minor ones), it leads to the solution of major crimes and most of the time, yung nahuhuli natin na nagtutulak sa kalsada na sinasabi natin na sila ay (the ones that we catch who are peddling drugs in the streets whom we call) barangay level pushers lang (only) and yet ito rin yung gumagawa ng (they are also the ones who perpetrate) robbery hold-up,” Albayalde explained.

Albayalde noted that there have been hardly any report on akbay bahay (break in burglaries) at present.