DIPOLOG
CITY - A few weeks before President Rodrigo R. Duterte took his oath
of office as the 16th president of the Philippines, illegal drug
users and pushers all over the country surrendered to police authorities.
In the recent “Kapihan sa Dipolog” held
at Sunburst Fried Chicken, Hotel Camila 1 here,
Police Chief Inspector Robert Agda of the Zamboanga del Norte Police
Provincial Officereported that almost 400 illegal drug users and pushers have already
surrendered to the different municipal police stations in the province.
Agda said majority of them come from
the municipality of Labason.
However, due to lack of
rehabilitation facilities in the province, Agda said police authorities were
forced to get only the names of the surrenderees forrecord purposes.
Agda also confirmed that one police
officer involved in illegal drugs is presently re-assigned at the PNP regional
office-9 while attending to the complaint filed against him in Zamboanga City.
The police officer admitted that
they were surprised of the latest development on the issue, but attributes this
to earlier pronouncement of President Duterte to fight against illegal drugs,
criminalities and corruption in the government.
“This is the first time in the
history of the entire country that this thing happened, that drug users and
pushers surrender to the police before we could launch an operation against
them,” Agda said.
Agda said with the assurance of
all-out support from the commander-in-chief to the law enforcement agencies,
the morale of the PNP is very high.