DAVAO CITY — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde has lauded the accomplishments of Police Regional Office-11 (PRO-11) in the administration’s fight against illegal drugs.
“We are fighting a vicious war against drug lords and dealers who seem to be becoming bolder despite the serious blows they have been receiving from the war we have waged against them,” Albayalde said in his speech during Thursday’s PRO-11 turnover of command of PRO-11 and celebration of the 117th anniversary of police service Camp Quintin Merecido here.
Albayalde noted that under the leadership of Chief Supt. Manuel Gaerlan, PRO-11 has achieved major gains against illegal drugs in the last seven months. These include, he said, the seizure of 9,451.65 grams of shabu and 798,627.37 grams of marijuana and other cannabis products estimated to cost over PHP124 million. The region also filed at least of 3,993 cases against drug suspects t.
On Davao region’s fight against criminality, Albayalde noted the drastic reduction in both index and non-index crimes, as well as the decrease in monthly crime rate at an average of 0.47 percent.
“I must say that this indeed contributed to the continuing downtrend in crime incidents,” Albayalde said, referring to anti-drug campaign of PRO-11.
On the PNP’s campaign to clean its ranks of rogue cops, Albayalde noted that PRO-11 filed 649 cases against polcie officers resulting in the dismissal of 83 officers while others were slapped with various sanctions and penalties.
Albayalde, however, said the PRO-11 should not rest on its laurels.
Albayalde said he expects PRO-11 to further step up the government’s anti-drug campaign through the Enhanced Managing Police Operations Strategy.
“I would expect more victories from PRO-11 in the months ahead,” he said. “Strive even harder to sustain the positive trend and surpass our achievements.”
He added: “Let us use the power of police-community partnership in fighting the evil elements of society and effectively addressing peace and order concerns.” (Lilian Mellejor/PNA)
