Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on Monday vowed that the Philippine National Police (PNP) will execute a full speed anti-drug operation with extreme caution once President Rodrigo Duterte decides to return the police force to the government’s fight contra illegal drugs.
“Full speed with extreme caution. We have learned a lot of lessons already,” dela Rosa said during a flag ceremony at Camp Crame.
“We will be proceeding at full speed. We will not care whom we would cross paths with. Let us hit and hit this particular problem (proliferation of illegal drugs),” dela Rosa added.
The PNP has been battered with numerous controversies that raised human rights questions from the citizens, public officials, and international human rights watch.
However, Bato said that the PNP has learned their lessons, adding he would seek the Local Government Units (LGU) to procure body cameras for the Policemen.
“The Caloocan experience alone gave a lot of lessons to be learned. To prevent this from happening again, I would request the local government units to procure body cameras if we are assigned back to handle the war on drugs,” said dela Rosa.
“I will not allow policemen operating without the body cameras for transparency, we will make sure that everything is recorded,” he added.
Duterte earlier said in a speech during his visit to the headquarters of Special Operations Command that he eyes returning the PNP to the war zone of “Oplan Tokhang” after he removed its control to it and assigned the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) as a sole agency in-charge of the drug war.
However, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Monday clarified to the public that President Rodrigo Duterte has not completely made up his mind if he would return the power of the PNP over the government’s fight contra illegal drugs.
“It is safe to reveal that the President, while inclined to return it to the PNP, has not made up completely his mind,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said at a press briefing held in Davao City.
“Sana kung ibalik ito sa atin, sana wala na tayong problema. Pangalawang beses na itong tinanggal at ibabalik sa atin. Pangatlong phase na ito kung sakali, sana perfect na ito [If it will be returned to us, we hope that we will not have a problem. This is the second time that it has been removed from us and given back to us. This is the third phase if ever, I hope it will be perfect],” the PNP chief said.