Army Major General Rafael Valencia says they can allot a portion of the 10th Infantry Division’s 100-hectare army camp for a drug rehabilitation facility. Valencia made the announcement in a press conference on Wednesday, August 3, 2016. (Paulo C. Rizal/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY— Lt. General Rey Leonardo Guerrero of the Eastern Mindanao Command said they are now coordinating with the Philippine National Police to include the anti-drug campaign Oplan Tokhang in their village immersions. Oplan Tokhang or Operation Toktok-Hangyo (knock and plead) is where authorities knock on the houses of suspected drug users and peddlers and encourage them to stop their illegal activities.
Guerrero said he already directed his units to intensify their intelligence gathering on drug offenders.
“As part of our peace and development programs in the barangays, we are also coordinating with the PNP for us to include the Oplan Tokhang in our barangay immersions,” Guerrero said during the AFP-PNP press conference at the Ritz Hotel in Obrero, Davao City on Wednesday, August 3.
This after Police Regional Office 11 head Manuel Gaerlan admitted that they need any support from the Armed Forces because their personnel is limited in reaching all the far-flung areas.
Army camps as drug rehabilitation centers
Meanwhile, Guerrero said that their camps are not yet ready to host drug-related personalities who will undergo rehabilitation as they are still scouting for possible areas to use.
He said they are still scouting for probable areas, including the area of the 10th Infantry Division military camp “considering that they have a big area here”. But Guerrero said that as of now, they are still studying the option.
Army Major General Rafael Valencia of the 10th ID said they can provide an area for rehabilitation of the drug related individuals since they have a 100-hectare camp.
“Our camp is 100 hectares so we can really give (a portion) for the (rehabilitation) facility, but we still need ground preparation for the structures,” he said .
Valencia said that they are willing to give a space for the rehabilitation area and let the drug-related individuals to join in their exercises.
As of now, Valencia said that the 10th ID camp “is still a new camp , so we still have to construct barracks for our troops.”
“But we can allocate a space if there is a need to construct facilities for rehabilitation,” he said.
Surrenderees
Meanwhile, Gaerlan said police operatives already visited 3,374 houses of suspected drug pushers during the “Oplan Tokhang” (knock and plead). He said the drug user surrenderees has reached 41,521, while there are 1,070 drug pusher surrenderees and 50 persons were killed during operations.
He said that with the increasing number of drug-related personalities who are surrendering, they cannot give an area for illegal drug rehabilitation since they have limited facilities in their camp.
“I will still check if our regional training center have space, but I doubt because our police officers are under training and they are already full there,” he said. (davaotoday.com)
