Overnight, 72 suspected drug pushers and users were arrested in Metro Manila just as Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde announced yesterday a recalibrated and more relentless Oplan Tokhang.

Albayalde, at a press briefing, said the intensified campaign against illegal drugs was in line with the pronouncement of President Rodrigo Duterte in his State of the Nation Address that the war on drugs is far from over, but will be relentless and chilling.

The arrests were made in the five districts of Metro Manila during 12 hours of operations.

Reports collected by Daily Tribune showed that the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) nabbed a total of 32 drug suspects. QCPD has 12 police stations.

This was followed by the Southern Police District (SPD) with 17 arrests with Taguig City having the highest number of arrested drug personalities at seven persons. Las Piñas had four; Pasay City got three; Makati police nabbed two people and Parañaque City collared one.

Muntinlupa City and Pateros, which are both suffering from the drug menace, have no accomplishment.

The third unit was the Northern Police District (NPD), which captured 14 suspected drug personalities.

Thirteen of them came from Caloocan City, while one was nabbed in Malabon City.

The Manila Police District (MPD) had a total of eight arrests.

Albayalde said he directed the PNP Oversight Committee of Illegal Drugs to make the necessary adjustments for their operations against the remaining drug users in their watch list.

“I have ordered the oversight committee to re-calibrate Tokhang to be more relentless in accounting for the remaining 1,656 drug users in our watch list, as of last week, who have yet to surrender to authorities

and to submit themselves for rehabilitation,” Albayalde said.

He added Tokhang 2.0 “will be relentless in monitoring the whereabouts and activities of 1,274,213 drug users and street pushers who already surrendered to ensure that they have already turned away from illegal drugs.”

Albayalde said the PNP will also monitor 215,323 users who already went through rehabilitation to make sure they do not go back to illegal drugs.

“We are far from completely helping these 1,274,213 drug dependents go back to their normal lives,” he admitted, adding that he is appealing to concerned government agencies as well as local government units and non-government organizations “to act fast and concerted.”

At the same briefing, Albayalde also appealed to former party-list lawmakers and others with a warrant of arrest against them to surrender to authorities.

Albayalde called on former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, former Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. and now National Anti-Poverty Commission lead convenor Liza Maza, former Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro “Teddy” Casiño, former Anakpawis Rep. and former Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano, Vicente Cayetano, Delfin Pimentel and Emeterio Antalan “to just turn themselves in and to submit themselves to judicial processes.”

Albayalde said he has already directed the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group last weekend “to immediately send out arresting teams to serve the warrant of arrest.”

“The PNP is duty-bound to implement orders of judicial authorities. That is our constitutional mandate that law enforcers must abide with due consideration to human rights and dignity of the accused,” he added.

Malacañang on Friday distanced itself from a decision of a Nueva Ecija court to issue arrest warrants against four former party-list lawmakers for murder.

“The matter is still with the Regional Trial Court. The Palace will continue to respect the independence of our courts,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.

“We should therefore let the legal process run its course,” he said.

Albayalde also appealed to Tokhang 2.0 critics “to not just criticize but assist in this monumental task of helping fellow Filipinos regain their lives and restore their relationships with their families.”

The PNP wants its anti-illegal drugs and anti-criminality campaigns to be “surgical and chilling” as it wants to deliver “a strong message of the ‘certainty of punishment’ to high value targets, their patrons and protectors and all those who provide criminal support systems that sustain the illegal drug trade.”

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