Vice President Leni Robredo should have raised her concern on the alleged human rights abuses in the drug war to the Philippine National Police (PNP) before broadcasting it to the international community.

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The PNP said this on Wednesday after a video of Robredo was uploaded online by an international anti-drug war network. Robredo in her message opposed the drug killings and revealed the so-called “palit-ulo” (head swapping) scheme supposedly done by the police and the government authorities.

“They (communities) told us of the ‘palit-ulo’ scheme which means ‘exchange heads’ where the wife, husband or relative in a so-called drug list will be taken if the person himself could not be found,” Robredo said in the video.

This will be flashed before international delegates attending the forum organized by the Washington-based Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet) for the 60th United Nations (UN) Commission on Narcotic Drugs annual meeting on Thursday at the Vienna International Center in Austria.

For the PNP’s part, spokesperson Senior Superintendent Dionardo Carlos said the PNP does not tolerate the “palit-ulo” scheme, if this is indeed happening on the ground.

“Sana nga naiparating muna sa amin. Hindi ‘yung broadcast kaagad. Dapat ho sana ay nakikipag-ugnayan sa amin about what are we going to show in the international meeting such as that,” Carlos said in a press briefing at Camp Crame.

(This should have been conveyed to us. Not by promptly broadcasting it to the public. They should have coordinated with us…)

“Ngunit ‘yung sinasabi yung palit-ulo na kung hindi pumunta ‘yung drug suspect or drug personality ang kapalit ‘yung kamag anak,,,clearly, hindi ito tama. Wala ito sa policy or procedure ng ‘Taphang’ or ‘Tokhang,’” he said.

(But the alleged “palit-ulo” scheme in which a drug suspect who failed to surrender to the police, his relatives will be seized to take his place…clearly, this is wrong. This is not part of the “Taphang” or “Tokhang” policy.)

“Taphang,” which means to “gather and plead,” is a modified version of the PNP’s “Oplan Tokhang” or the knock-and-plead operation of the police to convince drug addicts and pushers to change their ways.

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The PNP also asked Robredo to give specific details on the alleged palit-ulo incident, where it happened and who were involved, to avoid giving the impression that the entire PNP is using the same scheme.

“Sana po at maging mas specific kung nangyayari. Hindi ‘yung it will appear that it is the practice of the PNP, which is not,” Carlos said.

(We hope they will give specific cases.)

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