President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., on the last day of his trip to the United States, on Thursday said there are more than 30 police officials under investigation for being so-called “ninja cops” for their suspected links to the illegal drug trade after two generals resigned.
“I asked for the resignation of all the police officers colonel up so that we can assess and see and study what the records are [to see] if they are part of the syndicate,” Mr. Marcos said.
He said his administration was not interested in “the small people that you only see in the slums… selling” or users, but high-ranking officials, who could be police or other people in the government.
“So, they are the ones we are hunting down,” the President said.
Mr. Marcos said two of the Philippine National Police (PNP) officials who submitted their resignations were now removed from their posts.
He said more than 30 are still under investigation.
President Marcos said due process must be observed before erring officials are investigated and prosecuted.
In a question-and-answer portion of his address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC, Mr. Marcos acknowledged “abuses by certain elements in the government” under his predecessor’s war on drugs, which he said failed to stop syndicates from growing stronger.
Mr. Marcos said former President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-narcotics drive “focused very much on enforcement.”
“Because of that, it could be said that there were abuses by certain elements in the government and that has caused some concern about the human rights situation,” Mr. Marcos said.
Officially, 6,181 people were killed in Duterte’s “war on drugs” but rights groups say that up to 30,000 may have died, some innocent victims, and that corruption was rife among security forces that acted with impunity.
Mr. Marcos said that while he could not speak on behalf of Duterte or “what he had in mind,” he noted that illegal drugs remained the source of “much criminality in the Philippines.”
Drug syndicates, he added, grew “stronger, wealthier and more influential.”
Mr. Marcos said he would focus on reeducation and dismantling drug rings.
“We have taken enforcement as far as we can. Now, it is time to look at actually going after dismantling these syndicates,” he said.
The International Criminal Court in January authorized the resumption of its investigation into the drug war and the Davao Death Squad killings in the Philippines, but Marcos has blocked the effort, saying it is meddling in domestic affairs.
Duterte, who initiated the drug war, pulled the Philippines out of the ICC in 2019, a year after the Hague-based tribunal began a preliminary probe into the crackdown.
Marcos has ruled out reversing Duterte’s decision to pull the Philippines out of the ICC.