I’M referring to the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group or PNP-DEG which remains to be the show window of the force when it comes to its effort to produce a much higher conviction rate in the country.

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Currently headed by Brigadier General Remus Medina of PNP Academy Class 1993, the PNP-DEG will continue to play a major role in PNP chief, General Gilor Eleazar’s vow to further improve the conviction rate of the national police force when it comes to violations of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

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Last week, the top cop ordered all concerned police commanders to review their dismissed drug cases. The order is not actually new since it has always been a PNP policy but Gen. Eleazar said they need to actually evaluate the drug cases they lost particularly since 2016, the start of the Duterte presidency.

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The top cop said the PNP leadership is always holding their officers and men on the ground accountable for their failure to observe Police Operational Procedures specifically when it comes to anti-drug operations, resulting in a number of RA 9165 cases being dismissed outright by prosecutors or drug offenders going free after regional trial courts acquitted them on mere technicalities.

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At present, several major drug cases filed by the PNP-DEG against arrested drug lords and their ilk are yet to be resolved. However, the Unit which recorded a 74.57 percent conviction rate since last year needs to further exceed their conviction rate by seeing to it that the drug lords who are lucky to be still alive since they did not put up a fight, will rot to jail.

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I learned that different PNP-DEG Special Operation Units are continuing their training in operations and investigation to ensure the successful prosecution of RA 9165 cases they have filed against arrested drug offenders.

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However, I fully agree that monitoring the court performance of the PNP-DEG would be much easier compared to evaluating the performance of the different Drug Enforcement Units of the PNP, starting from the Regional Police Office down to the Provincial, City/Municipal and Station DEUs.

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Just consider these hard facts: since the start of the Duterte administration in July 2016, to date, the government has reported the dismantling of 766 secret drug dens and 18 clandestine shabu laboratories and storage facilities; and the arrest of over 290,000 suspects including over 12,000 ‘high-value targets.’

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Those anti-narcotics operations led in the seizure of more than P60 billion worth of shabu and other dangerous drugs and the death of more than 6,100 armed suspects during gunbattles with undercover officers.

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What the PNP needs to do right now is to evaluate the cases filed against the over 290,000 arrested drug personalities specifically the over 12,000 ‘HVTs that include more than 300 foreign nationals, majority of them from China; more than 390 elected officials, over 100 uniformed personnel; nearly 500 government employees; and more than 3,500 ‘target-listed’ drug personalities.

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There are many questions that should be answered here: Were the over 290,000 arrested drug personalities actually charged in court for violation of RA 9165? What happened to the cases filed? Were they dismissed outright by the prosecutor’s office due to technicalities or lack of probable cause? How many cases are yet to be resolved by the courts or the Department of Justice? What if the arresting officers have already retired from the service?

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I believe that more than 90 percent of these cases were handled by those from the Police Regional Offices specifically their provincial, city, municipal, numbered stations and police-community precincts. Then there are the cases filed by other law enforcement agencies like the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the National Bureau of Investigation. If that’s really the case, how about an inventory of the criminal charges filed by these anti-narcotics units?

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Prior to Gen. Eleazar’s directive, Brig. Gen. Medina have told me they are embarking on a 100 percent court and prosecution appearances of their men and a case monitoring system, all with the end in view of sending drug lords and their ilk to jail and delivering justice to their victims.

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Just the same, Gen. Eleazar assured the citizenry that mechanisms are in place for a thorough review of all cases that have been dismissed by courts, especially those related to anti-illegal drugs operations.

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According to the top cop, these mechanisms are for the institution of possible adjustments in the conduct of police operations where deviations from protocols and procedure are committed which would cause the case dismissal.

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The PNP chief’s assurance came after local rapper Marlon Peroramas, known as Loonie, asked him to investigate a group of Makati City policemen who allegedly ‘planted’ evidence on him leading to his arrest and jailing in 2019. Peroramas’ case was dismissed by the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 64 due to the failure of police personnel to follow the chain of custody rule.

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“Kasama sa inutos kong imbestigasyon ay ang pagtutok sa lahat ng aspeto kung bakit na-dismiss ang kaso laban sa rapper na si Looney at ang kanyang kasamahan. Maliwanag na na-dismiss ang kaso dahil sa teknikalidad sa isyu ng rules on chain of custody at ito ang gusto nating tutukan upang hindi na maulit pa,” said Gen. Eleazar.

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However, he said that although there are drug cases filed by the police which were dismissed by the courts on reasons of technicalities, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the persons acquitted did not actually commit the offense, meaning they are really ‘clean.’

“What I would like to point out here is that we want to improve our drug conviction rate,” he said as he assured Peroramas that his appeal won’t fall on deaf ears.

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The PNP chief said the Committee on Dismissed Drug Cases of the Southern Police District headed by Brig. Gen. Jimili Macaraeg is investigating the case as he vowed to make any of his men who committed irregularities in the conduct of anti-narcotics operations answerable for their misdeeds.