In the most recent House session probing the extrajudicial killings under former president Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Francisco Marbil was asked to differentiate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s anti-narcotics campaign from that of his predecessor.
Again and again, lawmakers prodded him, but the country’s top cop appeared to struggle answering the questions clearly.
Lawmakers were like pulling teeth.
Bukidnon Representative Jonathan Keith Flores asked: are you going after drug war suspects with the same ferocity as the previous administration?
“Police operation is non-stop. It’s continuous, it’s a joint effort with PDEA [Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency] and all government agencies against illegal drugs,” Marbil said.
Flores rephrased the question: how would you compare police operations in the first two years of the Marcos administration with the first two years of the previous administration?
“There’s no comparison, because I don’t know what happened to the volume of drugs before,” Marbil replied. “Our target now is supply reduction, so our operations are bigger when the number of drugs to be seized are higher.”
Flores tried again: would you consider the number of deaths under the Duterte administration a serious concern?
“We have to follow the rule of law,” Marbil answered, an off-tangent response that prompted a show of exasperation from the Mindanaoan lawmaker, who quipped that he was asking the police chief questions that were simple. “He was giving me general answers.”
Adiong’s turn
Another Mindanaoan congressman took a stab at extracting categorical answers from Marbil.
“Is it safe to assume that there is a substantial change in the (drug war) implementation? Because there’s no point in changing the Double Barrel if it’s effective. There’s no point of replacing Tokhang if it’s effective. So why the sudden change? What’s the realization?” Adiong asked.
“What we do in police operations are the same,” Marbil said, but subsequently contradicted himself… sort of. “But how we handle police operations, how we enter homes and implement search warrants, we have become careful, because we really want to avoid unnecessary gunfight.”
Adiong followed up: so was the previous administration successful in its illegal drug campaign, considering you’re deviating from that strategy?
“Whatever the problem was before, I have no idea, because that’s not my time, but what we do now is what we see as the better solution. But what my solution right now might be different from the next PNP (chief),” Marbil replied.
“I commend you for changing the gears, even if you don’t give me a straight answer,” Adiong told Marbil.
Vague responses
Marbil wasn’t born yesterday, and he has been in service for three decades. He has held key posts in the PNP, such as the chief of the Eastern Visayas regional police, and head of the PNP Highway Patrol Group.
That’s why his imprecise answers may leave some spectators curious: was he intentionally sidestepping the questions, or is he just not the best communicator?
Lawmakers in that hearing, after all, were already asking leading questions, with the apparent end goal of commending the present administration for its anti-drug strategy.
Also, it’s not like President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is shy about distancing himself from the drug policy of his predecessor-turned-political nemesis. In his State of the Nation Address last week, he even said extermination “was never” part of its strategy to address the proliferation of illegal narcotics. It’s a night-and-day contrast from Duterte, who in foul-mouthed tirades would boast about his shoot-to-kill order against drug suspects.
Somewhere in Marbil’s messy answers were attempts to articulate the government’s current strategy. He said suspects were being shot more frequently on the foot instead of critical areas, thereby resulting in fewer deaths. He also said that the PNP’s focus is on reducing supply, rather than arresting individuals.
But just to be clear: the anti-narcotics campaign under Marcos is not at all bloodless.
An independent watchdog said there were still 701 drug-related killings during the first two years of the Marcos administration, down from the nearly 20,000 during the same period of the Duterte administration.
A prior commitment prompted Marbil to leave the hearing earlier than the other guests, so it might take another event before he gets asked why Marcos’ recalibrated anti-drug campaign still resulted in hundreds of deaths. – Rappler.com
* All quotes in Filipino were translated into English, and some were shortened for brevity.