MANILA, Philippines – Both the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) welcomed on Tuesday, December 5, the return of the police in President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs.
"We will follow the order of the Commander-in-Chief and Chief Executive," PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Dionardo Carlos told reporters in a text message.
"We will reckon back to the earlier statement that we issued," PDEA spokesperson Derrick Carreon told Rappler in a text message, referring to the statement earlier released by their chief Director General Aaron Aquino.
The PNP was sent back to the drug war Tuesday afternoon, two weeks after Duterte said it was inevitable for the cops to resume their campaign. Almost two months have also passed since the President named the PDEA as the sole agency in charge of the fight versus illegal drugs.
Carlos earlier told Rappler that the PNP has made preparations for their return. While they were away, the PNP's Drug Enforcement Group conducted trainings for drugs operations in anticipation for the day they come back .
The PDEA, for its part, had advised the PNP to change its drug war guidelines before jumping back into drug war.
It was unclear whether the PNP would indeed change, but the legality of their existing guidelines have already been raised to the Supreme Court. Lawyers have pointed out that the order which set the drug war in motion was open to police abuse. – Rappler.com
