GENERAL SANTOS CITY — A total of 599 suspected drug personalities have been arrested while 45 others were killed in police anti-drug operations in parts of Region 12 or Soccsksargen in the last three months.
Supt. Aldrin Gonzales, public information officer of the Police Regional Office (PRO)-12, said Thursday these were based on the results of the 537 illegal drug-related operations conducted by local police units since January.
Citing records from the PRO-12’s Regional Investigation and Detection Management Division (RIDMD), he said 515 of the arrested suspects were drug pushers while 84 were users.
Of the 45 slain suspects, who figured in “legitimate encounters” with operatives, he said 43 were pushers and two were users.
The city police conducted a total of 126 operations that resulted in the arrest of 125 pushers and 19 users; South Cotabato Police Provincial Office listed 126 operations with 131 pushers and 10 users arrested; Cotabato Police Provincial Office had 120 operations with 94 pushers and 28 users arrested; Sultan Kudarat Police Provincial Office had 78 operations with 84 pushers and seven users arrested; Cotabato City Police Office had 61 with 55 pushers and 20 users arrested; and, Sarangani Police Provincial Office had 26 operations with 26 pushers arrested.
A total of 16 suspected pushers and two users had been killed in police operations in North Cotabato; while nine pushers were killed in Sultan Kudarat, six in Cotabato City, five in South Cotabato, four in this city and three in Sarangani.
On Wednesday night, another suspected pusher was killed in Barangay Labangal here during an alleged encounter with police operatives.
The slain suspect was identified as Rogelio Wata, 38, who hails from Glan town in Saragani province.
Police said Wata was included in the top target list of drug personalities of the Makar police station here and in Glan.
Chief Supt. Morales, Region 12 police director, said the results of these operations showed that the “drug war” in the region has been gaining ground.
But he admitted that the extent of the drug problem in the area remained “tremendous and widespread” and their operatives had faced some challenges during the implementation of search and arrest warrants against suspected drug personalities.
He reiterated that the slain drug personalities were all killed during legitimate operations after resisting arrests and engaging their operatives in shootouts.
Morales said the significant number of arrested persons was due to the stringent implementation of operation plan or Oplan Manhunt Charlie against wanted persons in the region.
“We are currently using the full force of the law to protect our communities against all forms of criminality and cleanse them of illegal drugs,” he added.(PNA)
