Top cop twits ex-Education chief: No special privileges

Philippine National Police chief General Guillermo Eleazar said the police have not been bestowed with any power or privilege in the government’s war on drugs.

Eleazar disputed the findings of former education secretary Edilberto de Jesus in his paper at the Ateneo de Manila University where he claimed that in the course of the war on drugs “privileges given to cops gave rise to corruption and abuse of power.”

“I would like to point out that the PNP and other enforcers of the war on drugs were never bestowed any privilege as the study claimed. The campaign against illegal drugs is part of our mandate to carry out just as it is our duty to act against and prevent crimes,” the PNP chief stressed.

He added, “In President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s war on drugs, law enforcement is just part of the equation in coming up with a solution to put a stop to the narcotics trade. This is a whole-of-nation approach that seeks to not only address illegal drugs as a peace and order problem but also as a health and social concern.”

Eleazar said special focus was given to the campaign against illegal drugs based on the experience that most crimes, particularly the heinous kind, are rooted on illegal drugs.

The PNP Chief assured, that “in enforcing the war on drugs, the PNP takes into high consideration accountability and adherence to human rights-based policing. Police personnel who commit any violation in the Police perational procedure or abuse in conducting operations are held accountable for their actions or lapses.”

He said, “I think the claim that the war on drugs resulted in an increase in the number of abusive cops is baseless and an unfair assumption because the PNP has never tolerated rogues in its ranks. May sariling mekanismo ang PNP para sa mga tiwaling pulis.”

As to the supposed ineffectiveness of the war on drugs, Eleazar said the data and figures will belie the allegations, “ Naniniwala ako na hindi na natin pa kailangang isa-isahin ang mga operasyon kontra droga na nagresulta sa pagkakasabat ng bulto-bultong shabu at ang mga nahuling high value targets, pati na din ang mga ngayo’y drug-free barangays.”