Winning against illegal drugs? Localities declaring ‘drug-free’ status

 

ELIMINATING ILLEGAL drugs in the country by any means necessary remains the Duterte government’s top priority.  The president has taken every speech he has made a chance to express his resolve to go after those involved. Since Rodrigo Duterte assumed office, the human cost of the anti-illegal drug campaign has steadily risen at an alarming rate.  On certain days, over ten killings are recorded, with nearly 6,000 individuals killed to date.

During the campaign, Duterte pledged that he would rid the country of drugs in three to six months. In September, his third month in office, he admitted that he did not know the magnitude of the problem and gave himself a later deadline. The killing strategy failed to rid Thailand and Colombia of drugs, forcing these governments to work on a broad approach, adding to police operations, international coordination, medical and psycho-social programs. (See “Duterte’s War on Drugs: Learning from the Failure of Thailand and Colombia“)

President Duterte should share with the public his criteria for what he would consider success. As demonstrated in other countries with better means to fight drugs, the problem is not that easy to solve. And even the most orderly countries admit some form of drug problem exists.

As the war on drugs takes its toll on the communities, with warrantless raids and killings, a few places have claimed to have won the battle.  What number of provinces, cities or barangays declaring their jurisdictions drug-free will satisfy the president?

It is important then to understand how these successes were attained.

Two-fold strategy

To address the illegal drugs issue, the Philippine National Police launched Oplan Double Barrel which operationalizes a two-pronged approach: Project Tokhang and Project HVT.  The media picked up on Tokhang which was attached to the police operations resulting in killings, which is not entirely accurate.

Tokhang (toktok-hangyo), a Visayan composite term which stands for knock-knock (toktok) and negotiate (hangyo), serves as the lower barrel approach which involves house-to-house visitations to persuade suspected illegal drug personalities to mend their ways. HVT, or the upper barrel approach, focuses on the conduct of police operations to attack and neutralize illegal drug personalities and syndicates—the so-called high value targets.

First drug-free province?

The Manila Bulletin missed the opportunity to add value to a “feel-good” piece on October 24 by expanding the account of Bataan’s claimed status as the country’s first drug-free province. It detailed the coordination among different government agencies and offices so that the claim can be announced. The account however hardly touched on the actual operations or measures undertaken by the police and LGUs. The reporter did not check the scope of the drug problem in the province before the campaign. The report did not provide information about how Bataan will sustain the drug-free state in the future.

According to the article, Bataan Police Provincial Office (PPO) Director Senior Supt. Benjamin Silo Jr. said their report was already forwarded to the Office of the President, and that after verification, Malacañang will officially announce it. (“PNP declares Bataan as 1^st drug-free province”)

A week later, the Bulletin published more about the bureaucratic to-do’s on what Bataan had achieved:  No less than the President would make the announcement. A “giant manifesto” would be presented to Bataan Gov. Albert Garcia certifying the status of 237 barangays of Bataan as drug-free. The article detailed the chain of documents to be certified by Bataan’s Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (BADAC), by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Central Luzon and then to be signed by Central Luzon Police Director Chief Supt. Aaron Aquino.  It noted again that the document would be forwarded to Malacañang where Duterte will announce it publicly. (“Duterte ‘to announce Bataan as 1^st ever drug-free province,’” November 2, 2016)

So far, Malacañang has not yet made any announcement.

The reports are obviously written as PR pieces, exhibiting the importance given to official names without reflecting on the significance of the development.  As Police Supt. Aquino said, Bataan could present a “paradigm to other provinces and cities.” For Bataan to become a model, other LGUs and the public should know how they achieved this success.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported the success of Gundran Compound in Barangay Putatan, Muntinlupa City—a community of low- and middle-income residents located along National Highway next to a gated subdivision. This gave readers a better account of the claimed achievement.

Instead of merely reporting the campaign’s effect, the report made an effort to talk about the process the community went through—what measures were implemented,  the involvement of the official agencies and the community, the length of the campaign as well as various tasks such as mapping and identification of residents.

Gundran Compound was declared drug-free by the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) on November 16. (“Community turns ‘drug-free’ in 10 steps—and more,” Inquirer, November 27, 2016)

Who decides?

Besides the examples above, other localities across the country have also been declaring drug-free status. Local government units and the police are often cited by reports as the ones proclaiming an area as drug-free.

A document by the DDB provides parameters that must be satisfied before a barangay can be declared “drug-cleared.” According to Section 2 of DDB’s Board Regulation No. 2 Series of 2016, a drug-cleared barangay is “previously affected and subjected to drug-clearing operations and declared free from any illegal drug activities.”

It is unclear, however, whether there is a specific government agency tasked with declaring such status.

Providing the complete picture

Such developments in Bataan and in communities like Gundran Compound can be appreciated only with detailed information about the comprehensive efforts which could bring about a certain level of success. It would be helpful to know how much of the “Tokhang,” or “Project HVT” is necessary.  Most important, can a community achieve success without resort to violence?