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Revive ‘Oplan Tokhang’? PNP says always mulling options

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ABS-CBN News

MANILA – The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday said it is constantly looking into improving its operational strategy on the war on drugs, a day after its former chief said they should consider reviving Oplan Tokhang following the &quot;return&quot; of drug syndicates in the country.Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa has told ABS-CBN News on Monday that Oplan Tokhang, a police strategy of literally knocking on the doors of suspected criminals, was &quot;effective&quot; in reducing crime.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/19/22/revival-of-pnps-oplan-tokhang-pushed">Bato: PNP should consider bringing back Oplan Tokhang</a></li></ul>Speaking with TeleRadyo, PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said they are constantly looking at operational strategies that have worked in the past.“Nagkakaroon po ng priority evaluation and assessment at yung mga best practices po ng nagdaang taon, pepwede po nating ikonsidera at i-revive kung nakikita po nating ito po ay effective,” she said.(We have a priority evaluation and assessment, and best practices in the past years can be reconsidered and revived if they have been proven effective.)“In the case po of Oplan Tokhang ay alam naman po natin na naging epektibo naman po ito, at marami po tayong community residences sinasabing epektibo po ito dahil nag-encourage po ito sa pamilya ng mga drug users to voluntary surrender, at nagkaroon po sila ng kapanatagan nung sila po ay nabigyan ng pagkakataon na makausap po,” she added.(In the case of Oplan Tokhang, we know it has been effective, and we have a lot of community residences saying it was effective because it encouraged families of drug users to voluntarily surrender, and they had peace of mind after speaking with the police.)She acknowledged, however, that police abuses were committed under Oplan Tokhang.“Alam din naman natin na nagkaroon din naman ng konting abuso doon sa ibang mga pulis at yan naman po ay in-address ng PNP,” she said.(We know that a few abuses happened, but that was addressed by the PNP.]Fajardo said the public should just await the PNP’s statement on whether or not ‘Tokhang’ would be revived.“But kung saka-sakaling mare-revive po ito ay malaki po ang nagiging papel nitong ating mga Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council para magkaroon din po ng check and balance and proper monitoring and sila din po kasi ang mag-a-identify sino po bai tong magiging subject ng ating house visitation.”“At we will make sure po na hindi po ito maabuso kung saka-sakaling ire-revive po uli,” she noted.[But if this will be revived, the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council will play a big role in maintaining checks and balances and proper monitoring, and they will also identify which houses we will visit. And we will make sure there will be no more abuses this time around if it gets revived.)The International Criminal Court (ICC) in September 2021 greenlit a probe on the killings committed under President Rodrigo Duterte and his war on drugs campaign, in which Oplan Tokhang played a major part.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/15/21/icc-chamber-greenlights-probe-on-ph-drug-war-davao-killings">ICC Pre-Trial Chamber greenlights probe on PH drug war, Davao killings</a></li></ul>This year, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan urged the chamber to &quot;order the resumption of the investigation into the Situation in the Republic of the Philippines.&quot;This, after the Philippine government had argued the ICC lacks jurisdiction to conduct the probe and that the alleged crimes are insufficiently grave to warrant further action by the international court.<div>--TeleRadyo, 20 December 2022</div>

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday said it is constantly looking into improving its operational strategy on the war on drugs.