POLICE are going all-out in its whole-of-nation approach to address the problem on ‘drug supply and demand ‘in the country specifically in reforming addicts and other users who have surrendered to authorities since 2016 to undergo treatment and rehabilitation, Philippine National Police chief, General Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr. said Sunday.

Records showed that from July 2016 to October 2022, a total of 654, 228 persons who used illegal substances have already graduated from Recovery and Wellness Programs initiated by the police force and local government units.

“The end-game strategy against illegal drugs is surely gaining ground thru a holistic approach highlighted rehabilitation, reinforcement and education-based demand reduction,” said Gen. Azurin

He noted the successful culmination of the Recovery and Wellness Program for drug patients.

According to the top cop, the more than 654,000 drug users who have graduated from PNP-initiated and PNP-supported recovery and wellness programs since July 2016 to date represents 53.11 percent of the 1, 231, 894 drug surrenderers who were received by the PNP to undergo a Recovery and Wellness Program. The program runs for one month up to three months.

The Recovery and Wellness Program is the centerpiece of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Operations through Reinforcement and Education (ADORE), which is the final phase of the PNP anti-drug strategy, Gen. Azurin said.

“This is the new face of the anti-illegal drugs campaign of the police that is at the fore of the national strategy against the country’s drug problem,” he explained.

“We are hitting hard on the sources of illegal drugs to disrupt or break the supply chain. At the same time, we are pursuing the demand reduction strategy with renewed vigor by promoting drug abuse awareness prevention and resistance education, including the DILG’s very own BIDA program, among the vulnerable sectors of society,” the PNP chief added.

Saying they are all in one with the effort of the PNP to ensure there would ‘be bankrupt drug traffickers’ in the country, more private and religious groups have joined Gen. Azurin in supporting the Marcos government’s continuing war on drugs.

The PNP chief said that since the assumption of the current Marcos administration, the PNP’s aggressive campaign against illegal drugs had already 18,505 anti-illegal drug operations which yielded over P9.7 billion worth of illegal drugs and resulted in the arrest of 22,646 drug personalities.

During the period, 46 armed drug traffickers were killed in gunbattles with the police, majority of them in Region 11 as Gen. Azurin maintained that his order for his men is to ensure that they will always be ready to defend themselves from armed suspects once their lives are put in danger.

On Sunday last week, hundreds of cyclists and bicycle hobbyists pedaled 21 kilometers from Rizal Park to Camp Crame in a gesture of solidarity with concerned government agencies and civil society in fighting the country’s drug problem.

The ‘Bisikleta Iwas Droga’ joy ride kicked off the National Drug Abuse and Prevention Week 2022 hosted by the Dangerous Drugs Board headed by Secretary Catalino S. Cuy.

Gen. Azurin said they are taking pride in the active participation of the private sectors in the ‘whole-of-nation approach’ to the illegal drug problem.

“This national anti-drug mobilization event comes at a most opportune time preceding another major anti-drugs operation by the PNP Drug Enforcement Group and Police Regional Office 4-A on Saturday that netted some 37 kilograms of shabu worth approximately Php251.6 million from two high-profile drug players in Imus City, Cavite,” the top cop said last November 13

Members of the PNP-DEG headed by Brigadier Gen. Narcisco D. Domingo and the PRO4-A under Brig. Gen. Jose Melencio C. Nartatez Jr. conducted the joint operation.

Gen. Azurin said they have sought the help of their foreign counterparts in determining the real origin of the shabu seized since there is a big possibility they came from the same group owing to their ‘green tea’ packaging.

“This laudable police operation manifests the keen resolve of the PNP to support the national anti-drug abuse campaign thru supply and demand reduction strategies of police operations with greater emphasis on effecting arrest of offenders and confiscation of high volume of illegal drugs. Thus, preventing violent confrontation during interdiction operations, and deeper focus on church and community-based treatment methods to this society’s problem,” Gen. Azurin said.

On Monday, the PNP chief also signed a memorandum of agreement with the Battle Against Drugs or BAD headed by Dr. Danilo I. Bornales. “The Philippine National Police puts great emphasis in effectively engaging all our stakeholders and institutional partners on meeting our organizational goals especially in strengthening security, maintenance of peace, and promoting public order and safety,” he said.

BAD was described as a non-government organization exposing the evil effects of illegal drugs in the country through conducting trainings, symposiums and seminars in different public and private schools down to grassroots level of the community in collaboration with various government agencies and stakeholders.

“Our present administration, under the leadership of President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr, fully supports our more focused holistic approach on putting stop to drugs and criminality. This signifies government’s commitment to shape up mechanisms in terms of improving the country’s peace and order and safety environment for the Filipino people,” Gen. Azurin said.

“In the same way, entire police force remains steadfast to the anti-illegal drugs programs of the government with the aim that Filipinos everywhere could enjoy peaceful society and embrace greater sense of security by sustaining vigilant trust and confidence to our law enforcers,” he added.

The PNP has shifted its anti-drug campaign from cutting supply to reducing demand, he said. This approach, Gen. Azurin said, looks at drugs as not just a law enforcement issue but as a multisectoral problem that would need the help of the health department, the schools, and the communities to solve.

“This is not the work of the police alone. All the sectors of the country should work together to address the problem of illegal drugs. It doesn’t matter how big the drug supply is if there is no one who will patronize it in the first place,” he said.

The PNP chief however he has ordered police officers to draw their guns only when their lives were in danger. “My policy that I emphasized to every police officer is that we will not endanger their lives. We minimize the use of force in arresting drug suspects. But definitely, when they are in danger, they have to defend themselves,” he said.