Untenable situation

FOR a while, communities in Pangasinan were encouraged by the initial impact of the momentum created by the Pangasinan police in the war on drugs.  The results of the Double Barrel strategy and Oplan Tokhang gave renewed hope to thousands of families who were affected by the drug trade in the barangays.

Three weeks ago, the Pangasinan police even listed more barngays being cleared, certified to by Barangay Anti-Drug Advisory Councils, local police, PDEA and mayors.

But all these accomplishments may all come to naught now that the PNP has been ordered to stand down. No police station has since launched an independent operation against drug pushers since they have been limited to assisting PDEA, now the lead agency in the anti-drugs campaign. With their local police out of the action, communities now fear the return of the drug lords and their barangay networks with a vengeance.  Their fears are valid.

PDEA reportedly only has 8 agents authorized to initiate operations in Pangasinan compared to 48 police stations with an average complement of at least 800 operatives tasked to man the frontline in all 1,364 barangays.

With a sorely undermanned PDEA, the drug campaign in Pangasinan now appears to be lost. The war on drugs has become an untenable situation.

President Duterte must re-examine his decision to pull out the PNP before it’s too late for another 3 million who’ll be caught in the drug web.

Just an opinion

NOT guilty.  That’s what Solicitor General Jose Calida said regarding a lower court’s decision finding Janet Napoles guilty of serious illegal detention filed against her a while back by her cousin, Ben Hur Luy.  The Court of Appeals (CA) requested for Calida’s position on the case.  The CA is tasked to either uphold or reverse a 30-year imprisonment slapped Napoles.  Some sectors lambasted Calida.  They are misguided, of course.  What Calida said was just an opinion and was never meant to overturn Napoles’ sentence.   Only the CA can do that.  In fact, the CA’s act was commendable: By consulting Calida, the CA was trying to avoid making a haphazard decision.  Besides, the Solicitor General has the mandate to defend any Filipino citizen perceived to be unduly persecuted, or protect the aggrieved against unlawful prosecution.  Let this be clear to everybody.

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