SONA 2023: Marcos to accept resignations of law enforcers linked to illegal drug trade

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Monday he would accept the resignations of police officials allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade.

“Unscrupulous law enforcers and others involved in the highly nefarious drug trade have been exposed. I will be accepting their resignations,” Marcos said in his second State of the Nation Address.

“In their stead, we will install individuals with unquestionable integrity who will be effective and trustworthy in handling the task of eliminating this dreaded and corrosive social curse. We cannot tolerate corruption or incompetence in government,” he told a joint session of Congress at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.

According to the President, though the government will continue its fight against illegal drugs and drug syndicates, it has “taken on a new face.”

“It is now geared toward community-based treatment, rehabilitation, education, and reintegration to curb drug dependents among our citizenry,” he said.

In January, Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos asked generals and full colonels of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to submit their courtesy resignations as part of the government’s effort to rid the force of officers involved in the drug trade.

A total of 955 senior officials and full colonels submitted their courtesy resignations while 12 officials did not submit their courtesy resignations.

In May, the National Police Commission (Napolcom) recommended the non-acceptance of the resignation of 917 officers, further investigation for 33 others, and the acceptance of the courtesy resignation as well as the filing of cases against four.

In June, the PNP and the Napolcom filed criminal complaints against 50 police officers allegedly involved in the 990-kilogram shabu haul amounting to P6.7 billion in Manila in October last year.

The PNP later said that a total of 69 complaints were filed against the "personalities" involved in the buy-bust due to the “conduct of the operation [and] the lapses.”

Meanwhile, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has said the involvement of cops in the drug trade remains to be a problem.

The PDEA said it confiscated more than P21 billion worth of illegal drugs and laboratory equipment in its 32,000 drug operations from July 22, 2022 to April 3, 2023.

The agency said over 27,000 barangays in the country are drug-free.  — RSJ/VBL, GMA Integrated News