The Philippine National Police on Wednesday revealed that it is already taking a more holistic approach in its illegal drugs campaign following the statement of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that he will continue the law enforcement approach of the past administration but in a "more focused way."

PNP officer-in-charge Lt. Gen. Jose Chiquito Malayo said that the organization is learning the best method to pull the victims out of this culture and closely work with other agencies in the rehabilitation of identified drug users in every community.

"We encourage everyone to help us rid the streets of illegal drugs," Malayo said. "While we ensure that there is extensive operation against major drug dealers, we also would like to look at this approach in a holistic manner."

"The rationale is no matter how much we halt drug activities on the ground, drug supply will always be there if these major operators remain untouched. The PNP makes sure that intelligence gathering is thorough and rigid to carefully identify these personalities," he added.

To recall, the President underscored the importance of going after key drug players to be able to make an actual difference.

"We will adjust. Let us adjust on focus. Let us also look at prevention. Educate our young people — that this is the end, this will get you to jail, this will kill you," said Marcos, adding that the second part of his campaign against illegal drugs is to "cure" drug addicts.

"We need to be more sensitive and sympathetic to those who were caught up in this lifestyle," said the President.

Over the past week, a quick look on the crime environment based on crime incidents collated from seventeen Police Regional Offices nationwide for the weeks covering 12 to 17 September and 18 to 23 September shows graphical presentation of increase and decrease of Peace and Order Indicator which include Index Crime Volume — including Focus Crimes — and Non-Index Crime Volume for the comparative period.

Overall, it is notable that Peace and Order Indicator went down by 2,515 or 49.47 percent from 5,084 compared to 2,569 in the previous period, and it also decreased nationwide. With Paula Antolin