Hontiveros fears more slays with revival of ‘Tokhang’
Nitz Arancon1 min read
By NITZ ARANCONCorrespondent
SEN. Risa Hontiveros yesterday expressed fears that the Duterte administration’s renewed “war on drugs” would bring the number of vigilante-style killings and human rights abuse cases up.
Speaking to reporters at the sidelines of the Cagayan de Oro Health Summit, Hontiveros called on the National Police to study its approach in carrying out the anti-drug campaign “Oplan Tokhang.”
“Most likely, the cases of vigilante killings would increase in this war on drugs,” she said.
Hontiveros appealed to National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa to suspend the implementation of “Oplan Tokhang.”
“It has become too aggressive, abusive and, at the end, it was corrupted,” Hontiveros said of the police campaign.
She said the police could review the campaign, improve and widen it with a different but simpler approach.
Hontiveros noted that the number of killings attributed to the “war on drugs” reached over seven thousand at a time when the credibility of the National Police was further eroded with the grisly murder of South Korean Jee Ick Joo inside Camp Crame.