The Philippine National Police’s (PNP) controversial anti-drug campaign, “Oplan Tokhang,” officially resumed in the country including Bohol on Monday after it was terminated in October last year.
Bohol Provincial Police Office director Sr. Supt. Angeles Geñorga Jr. said during the Provincial Peace and Order Council this morning that the campaign was relaunched with caveats.
According to Geñorga, Oplan Tokhang will only be carried out from Monday to Friday and during daytime from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
The operation, which entails authorities to visit drug suspects in their homes and convince them to end involvement in narcotics trade, will not be forced upon the subjects, said Geñorga.
Police officers were also told not to go after alleged drug personalities who will run during the campaign’s implementation.
Authorities should instead talk to the suspect’s family during instances when the operation’s subject flees or is not around, he added.
Camp Crame had earlier warned that members of “Tokhang” teams will be relieved of their posts once proven to have been involved in anomalies during the operation.
The same warning was issued to chiefs of police and even regional directors should complaints against the operation’s implementation mount.
Oplan Tokhang, which was launched on July 1, 2016, was terminated after Malacañang transferred all the anti-drugs operations to the jurisdiction of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
The PNP for a span of over two months was also barred from carrying out drug buy-bust operations and raids.
The government’s decision to end the campaign came after allegations of human rights violations mounted in connection to the police’s implementation of anti-drug operations. (R. Tutas)