Robredo: Deadly Tokhang should be abandoned

The police's Oplan Tokhang should be scrapped for good to put an end to the deaths that have resulted from it, Vice President Leni Robredo said Monday.

Robredo made the call on the same day that she released her 40-page report as co-chair of the interagency committee against illegal drugs (ICAD), a  post she was fired from by President Rodrigo Duterte after 19 days.

READ: Duterte's drug war a failure, only 1% of drug supply, money seized —Robredo

The Vice President pointed out that the Philippine National Police's guidelines on anti-drug operations date back to 2014 and do not cover Tokhang. Instead, they are limited to: buy-bust operations, searches/seizures by virtue of a warrant, eradication of plantations, financial investigations, controlled deliveries, operations involving clandestine laboratories, and unplanned operations such as flagrante delicto cases.

Tokhang, on the other hand, involves the police going door-to-door to flush out suspects. Duterte launched the practice in Davao City in 2012 when he was its mayor.

“Iyong Tokhang, iyong notoriety na associated sa kanya…as we went along, nakita naming may malaking butas ito kasi walang operational guidelines ang PNP rito sa Tokhang. Itong butas sa sistema allowed abuses to happen,” Robredo said.

“Kaya iyong law enforcement cluster, kailangan na bumuo ng ibang program to take the place of Tokhang. Tokhang must be abandoned in favor of a reinvigorated policy on anti-illegal drug enforcement that strongly promotes and ensures accountability and transparency,” she added.

Robredo, citing reports from the Philippine National Police, said in her report that an average of 248 drug suspects per day are dying under the police anti-drug operations from July 2016 to October 2019. This excludes those killed by unidentified gunmen.

Given her ICAD tenure where she visited drug-infested communities and community-based rehabilitation centers, Robredo said that the police should not necessarily go knocking on doors to flush out drug suspects, saying that this strategy has resulted in the thousands of drug war deaths under police operations and killings perpetrated by unidentified gunmen.

“PDEA could [instead] determine the operational guidelines. Sa participation ng pulis, puedeng i-revisit iyong role nila sa paghalughog kasi ito ang nag breed ng maraming abuses,” Robredo, a lawyer, argued.

She also said that perhaps LGUs could take on the job of speaking to residents. "Tapos saka na lang papasok ang PNP kung kinakailangan,” Robredo added.

In her report, Robredo also identified what she said were Tokhang's other deficiencies, such as: circumventing the need for a search warrant; a lack of transparency in how the drug lists are prepared and validated; and the persistent albeit unconfirmed reports of quotas, awards and promotions being anchored on aggressive Tokhang operations.

Given these findings, Robredo said that in addition to scrapping Tokhang, the police should wear body cameras during anti-drug operations and prosecute police officers who kill in the name of the drug war.

Also on Monday, Robredo cited that while Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency's working number on drug users is four million, PDEA admitted that this estimate is not based on any scientific formula. Moreover, the PNP has only accounted for 1.5 million drug users, of whom 1.2 million are "surrenderers" and over 300,000 have been arrested. — BM, GMA News