KUDOS TO PNP
PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. yesterday commended the Philippine National Police headed by General Rommel Francisco D. Marbil for making great strides in further reducing crime volume in the country while ensuring that its war on drugs will be ‘bloodless and humane.’
Speaking during the 12rd Police Service Anniversary at Camp Crame, the Commander-in-Chief emphasized that the PNP’s crackdown on illegal drugs, smuggling, illegal gambling, private armed groups, human trafficking, and criminality “has also strengthened significantly in ways that are not only effective but legal and lawful.”
“Indeed, police operations are now conducted as humane, as truthful, and as bloodless as possible,” the President said as he congratulated Gen. Marbil for ensuring that under his leadership, the 232,000-strong police force will take aggressive steps towards sustaining the gains of peace and order in the society.
President Marcos likewise noted that the PNP’s intensified patrol operations and increased police deployment has contributed to a notable drop in crime rates, particularly in crime-prone areas in the country.
With that, he urged all police personnel to support the leadership of the PNP. “I trust that you will sustain your current initiatives and take care of the people’s increasing confidence in the PNP’s abilities,” he said.
Gen. Marbil said they have noted major reduction in cases of rape, car theft and robbery incidents in the country as the overall crime volume went down over a 12-month period.
“The impact of these [law enforcement] initiatives is evident in the reduction of overall crime volume by 14,666 from July 2023 to June 2024,” he said.
“Significant decreases in rape, carnapping, robbery, along with a 21.09% reduction in cybercrime incidents, highlight the effectiveness of our upgraded capabilities and efforts,” the top cop added.
Gen. Marbil also revaled that a total of P36.5 billion worth of illegal drugs have been seized by the police force from July 1, 2022 to July 31, 2024 including P9.68 billion worth of shabu intercepted by policemen manning a checkpoint in Aligtagtag, Batangas early this year.
Described as “the largest haul in history and the highest recorded seized illegal drugs,” police operations related to the Alitagtag drug haul has already resulted in the arrest of a Canadian national and a Filipino-American.
The PNP chief said they have also provided adequate frontline services to the community with the deployment of 85 percent of their personnel to active field duties and 15 percent to administrative functions
This setup, Gen. Marbil explained, has ensured a robust police visibility through both foot and mobile patrols, as well as prompt responses to calls for help.
“To do this, the National Headquarters personnel, PNP Police Security and Protection Group, and other units including mobile groups have been strategically downloaded to the National Capital Region Office,” he said.
“This rightsizing approach enhances police visibility and strengthens crime prevention by concentrating resources in high-priority areas,” he added.
Gen. Marbil earlier said that their ‘bloodless war on drugs’ as cited by President Marcos Jr. in his 3rd State-of-the-Nation-Address last July 22 will continue with more focus on rehabilitating users apart from dismantling the operations of drug syndicates.
The Commander-in-Chief said that “extermination” has never been a part of his administration’s anti-illegal drugs campaign, stressing that the drive will remain “bloodless.”
“Our bloodless war on dangerous drugs adheres and will continue to adhere to the established… effective anti-illegal drugs strategy. Extermination was never one of them,” he said.
He added that in more than 71,500 drug operations so far under his term, more than P44 billion worth of illegal drugs had been confiscated. Authorities also arrested over 97,000 drug personalities, including 6,000 high-value targets, 440 government employees, 42 uniformed personnel, and 77 elected officials, he added.
In the latest numbers of the national anti-drug campaign from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2024 released by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency headed by Director General Moro Virgilio M. Lazo, a total of P45.68 billion worth of shabu, cocaine, Ecstasy and marijuana have been confiscated by government agents during the period.
They include nearly P5.946 tons of shabu, around 75 kilos of cocaine, more than 105,000 pieces of the designer drug called Ecstasy and over 5 tons of cannabis.
Also arrested during the period were 101,757 drug personalities, 6,508 of them described as ‘high-value targets.
The arrests and seizures were made as a result of 74,832 anti-drug operations conducted during the period which also saw the dismantling of 1 clandestine shabu laboratory and 1,053 secret drug dens and the clearing of 28,899 barangays with 6,617 still considered to be drug-affected to date and are being subjected to clearing.
