Statement

On DILG "cleansing" of PNP

1. The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)’s call for all generals and colonels in the Philippine National Police (PNP) to submit their “courtesy resignations” is part of the fascist machinations of Marcos to place the police, and all its corrupt and dirty operations, more firmly under his control by removing those whose loyalty lie with the Dutertes and other ruling class dynasties, in the guise of “cleansing” the PNP of personnel linked to the drug syndicates.

2. The DILG practically admitted that the illegal drug trade in the Philippines is under the protection of police generals and colonels, if not run by themselves. There is no hiding this fact. The “war on drugs” which has killed tens of thousands of suspected small-time peddlers and users since 2016 is, in fact, a war between the drug syndicates involving the criminal syndicates, police officers and big bureaucrats as high as the president himself (at the expense of an estimated 30,000 extrajudicially killed).

3. Duterte’s “war on drugs” during his term was a big hoax aimed to establish himself as the biggest drug overlord. He did so by brutally using the police and appointing officers loyal to him to ensure payment of protection money, and strike at operations of syndicates unwilling to pay their dues.

4. Secretary Abalos is fooling the public that by requiring the police generals and colonels to submit their courtesy resignation, the PNP will be “cleansed” and the drug problem would be “solved.” He and Marcos are clearly abusing their authority by assuming the power to remove or retain the police officers through a yet unknown committee whose members will likely be appointed by them. In doing so, however, they will succeed only in driving a deeper wedge of division within the PNP. We anticipate police officers who will face the threat of losing their life careers to stand up and speak up to expose this sham.

5. The move by Abalos shows clearly that there is a breakdown of the justice system in the country. It shows that the Marcos government, including the DILG and the Department of Justice, are bent on frustrating the calls for justice of thousands of victims of the continuing anti-people and anti-poor “drug war.” It bolsters the case before the International Criminal Court filed by the victims of the “war on drugs.”

6. We call on the Filipino people to reject this “cleansing” of the PNP as a sham. They must more vigorously expose the PNP as a criminal and fascist machinery that oppresses the Filipino people.

On DILG "cleansing" of PNP