Court orders arrest of 29 in ‘staged’ antidrug ops

The indictment of the 30 officers prompted the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to launch a Philippine National Police-wide investigation into drug seizures dating back to 2016.

Interior Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla alleged that the PNP’s reward system, implemented in 2016 under the administration of then-President Rodrigo Duterte, encouraged a scheme in which police officers seized drugs, reported only a portion, and kept the rest for future arrests.

The same reward system, as disclosed by retired Police Col. Royina Garma during a House quad committee hearing last year, allegedly had Duterte offering cash rewards for every drug suspect killed during his administration’s bloody war on drugs.

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“We will go back to 2016 all the way to 2022. It is our theory, but not proven, that because of the reward system instituted by the PNP when 2016 started, drug hauls were not being reported, and because there was a reward, they would take small amounts and place them there. With the reward, there was an accomplishment,” Remulla said on Monday.