MANILA, Philippines – “What’s wrong with Oplan Tokhang?”

Former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief and now Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa defended the government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign Tuesday amid Vice President Leni Robredo’s plan to get rid of “Oplan Tokhang,” a police initiative aimed at identifying and approaching suspected drug traffickers and users and enjoining them to stop their nefarious activities.

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READ: Robredo calls for scrapping of ‘Oplan Tokhang’

Dela Rosa was one of the key personalities behind “Oplan Tokhang” when he national police chief.

“No. I don’t admit na failure yung “Oplan Tokhang,” Dela Rosa said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel’s morning show “Headstart.”

“Without Oplan Tokhang, we could not have 1.6 million surrenderers, we could not have 130,000 drug personalities arrested. Without Oplan Tokhang, we could not have reduced the index crime volume by 49 percent.”

“So what’s wrong with Oplan Tokhang? Baka hindi lang nila matanggap-tanggap talaga na itong Oplan na ito ay talagang sinira ang diskarte ng mga drug personalities dito,” he added.

(So what’s wrong with Oplan Tokhang? Maybe they could not just accept this Oplan because it really destroyed the operations of drug personalities)

Dela Rosa, however, refused to comment on Robredo’s moves since she accepted her appointment as co-chairperson of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD).

“Let’s give her enough time to prove herself. Mahirap i-prejudge kaagad yung tao na hindi pa nakapag perform so hintayin natin baka something good will happen,” he said of Robredo.

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(Let’s give her enough time to prove herself. It’s difficult to prejudge a person who has not performed yet. Let’s wait, maybe something good will happen.) /gsg

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