SENATE President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Tuesday said policemen who conduct what their leaders promise as a non-lethal tokhang campaign should not just be clutching religious items but should also be wearing bodycams,
Earlier, a police general said the policemen who would “knock and plead” at the homes of suspected drug users will be carrying Bibles and rosaries.
He said body cameras should be part of tokhang’s reinvention.
Nothing conveyed good intentions better than an equipment that would record one’s best behavior.
‘‘In this age of Facebook Live, and when dashcams are sold on the sidewalk, there’s no excuse why our policemen still do not have what is standard police gear in many countries, more so if there are already funds for their purchase,’’ Recto said.
He made his statement even as the families of the thousands of people victimized by President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs again feared for their lives as the Philippine forces relaunched their bloody “Oplan Tokhang” or “kneel and plead” campaign, a priest said on Tuesday.
Rise Up for Life and for Rights spokesman Gilbert Billena related his conversation with the families of the victims fearing that they might face the same fate as their loved-ones.
“This is our advocacy in Rise Up together with the mother, father and children of those who were killed [by the government’s anti-drug campaign]),” Billena said.
“So they had this fear after they found about the relaunch of Kneel and Plead. Because based on our experience, the campaign against illegal drugs turned into bloodbath and eventually became a campaign against the victims of drugs.
Recto said Congress had authorized P334 million in the 2018 national budget for the new body cams to be worn by police officers.
He said Camp Crame should expedite its procurement and check other items in the PNP equipment shopping list, which this year’s General Appropriations Act had already funded.
‘‘There’s also P100 million for CCTVs. Also up for procurement are 160 cars, 308 motorcycles, 20 special-purpose vehicles, 19 boats, 10,000 sidearms and 5,000 long firearms among other capital outlay items,’’ Recto said.
Excluding the amount for doubling policemen’s salaries, the PNP has a P132.3-billion budget for 2018 but more than 86 percent will go to the pay and allowances of its 181,355 personnel.
Recto said the PNP could have acquired body cameras last year ‘‘if only it had prioritized these over dogs that cost half-a-million pesos each.”
While there was already a public clamor for policemen to wear bodycams during anti-drug sweeps, the PNP omitted bodycams in their request, choosing instead 48 bomb-sniffing dogs with a price tag of P511,672 each.
Close to P5.6 billion for police modernization was included in the 2017 national budget, P1.9 billion of which was released on Aug. 10, 2017, by the Department of Budget and Management based on a purchase list submitted by the PNP.
‘‘Hopefully, bodycams were included in subsequent releases, if there were. By September, there was a balance of P3.7 billion from the P5.6 billion-funds for police modernization,’’ Recto said.
“If they failed to buy bodycams for the rest of 2017, they should prioritize the P334 million for bodycams in the 2018 budget. Prove that through the purchase of equipment.”
Eastern Police District Chief Reynaldo Biay was quoted in media reports as saying that a person subjected to Oplan Tokhang (knock and plead) would not resist arrest but instead go peacefully with the police.
Meanwhile, Senator JV Ejercito said every policeman that would implement the resumption of “Oplan Tokhang” anti-illegal drugs operations should bearin mind that the end does not justify the means.
‘‘I am sure that everybody agrees and supports the campaign against illegal drugs. But the good intentions of ‘‘Tokhang’’ can and will never justify even a single unnecessary killing or death. It’s totally unacceptable and inexcusable,’’ he said.
