CPP suggests PNP-AFP 'shakeup' in war on drugs as Bayan slams rash of 'salvaging'

From InterAksyon (Jul 12): CPP suggests PNP-AFP 'shakeup' in war on drugs as Bayan slams rash of 'salvaging'

The Communist Party of the Philippines said the police and military “are so mired in drugs and the drug trade” only a “more thoroughgoing shakeup and reorganization” of the uniformed services and other agencies can ensure the Duterte government’s anti-narcotics campaign can succeed.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan also raised its voice against the increasing incidents of summary executions of scores of people tagged as drug suspects and demanded that “due process and human rights should always be upheld in the conduct of police operations.”

The Bayan statement was prompted by the shocking daylight execution on a busy street in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija of a man said to be a drug pusher. The group said the killing “shows the degree of impunity that persists today” as it dared police to determine whether the executioners “are from the criminal syndicates doing ‘house cleaning’ or from the ranks of the PNP.”

“We call on the authorities to uphold the inaugural message of the President where he declared that his adherence to due process will be uncompromising,” Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said. “More than going after street level dealers, efforts at identifying and prosecuting the protectors of criminal syndicates at the highest level of government should be intensified.”

The CPP, which leads the close to half-century communist insurgency in the country, also took exception to the “all-out violence and utter disregard for due process” that has seen “an apparent liquidation spree,” including of “suspects already in police custody,” saying this indicated an effort to rub out “witnesses who can potentially expose police involvement in drug trafficking operations.”

In fact, the CPP said the daily anti-drug raids in communities “indicate that the police and government officials have long had detained knowledge” of syndicates’ operations and predicted such operations “will not substantially hurt the operations of the large drug syndicates that operate at the provincial and regional levels” since these can “easily reestablish their illegal substance manufacturing and distribution networks in a short period of time.”

Last week, the CPP accepted a challenge by President Rodrigo Duterte to join the war on drugs, but said it had long been campaigning against narcotics even as it stressed its efforts against drug syndicates “should be carried out in accordance with rules and policies of the people’s democratic government.”

It said the violence “against the small users and pushers” is in contrast to the “accommodation and leniency” shown five police generals Duterte public accused of protecting drug syndicates and has made people “increasingly … restless.”

At the same time, the thousands surrendering “out of fear that they too will be subjected to police violence and summary execution” has left the government with the challenge of building “enough rehabilitation facilities to help them overcome their addiction” and the even “bigger challenge” of creating “millions of jobs in order to tap the productive potentials of the currently idle labor force,” the CPP said.

http://interaksyon.com/article/130235/cpp-suggests-pnp-afp-shakeup-in-war-on-drugs-as-bayan-slams-rash-of-salvaging