People got it clear that in the election promise to eliminate drugs in the country, the former and now detained president placed his trusted tough guy who was the top implementer of the bloody war on drugs in the country. The loyal hard rock general was the top choice for the position as police general to head the national police force. Being the tough police officer and trusted law enforcer in Davao City when the former and now president in detention was city mayor. Apart of keeping the safety from criminals and lawless elements, he performed well in the fight against illegal drugs. The then city mayor proudly declared the peaceful situation in his city and vowed to replicate the program nationwide once he becomes president.
That campaign promise to end the drug menace in the country within six months from the time he commences his term as president that captivated the support of the people that had been longing to find a solution to the drug menace in the country. The enormity of the drug problem in the country was a tough challenge as it appears unsolvable within a short period of six months. But people believed in the promise due to their frustration that the drug menace had engulfed the country from all nooks and at all levels. Reports of politicians and police officers having involvement in the proliferation of the drug problem sounded real to the ordinary citizen.
That was enough reason to bring into the top police position his trusted police general in his home city. It would be easy carrying out a drug war that had been tested in the local level. The familiarity of strategies that silenced drug users, pushers and traders in his city would be a great help doing it nationwide. The tough police general quickly gained popularity as he was in the news and television shows. The drug war was the top agenda of the administration and they hit the ground running to finish the drug menace within the promised six months.
The former and now detained president declared in public that there are at least three thousands drug addicts in the country based on the number of innocent people killed by Hitler during that dark period. Such estimation method is certainly not found in statistics books. But as the bloody war on drugs continued, those killed were considered as mere cold statistics.
Immediately, police officers were ordered to coordinate with barangay officials in listing the drug users in their jurisdiction. Without delay, those listed were invited by the police through operation “tokhang”, a shorted word for the phrase “katok-hangyo” which means knock and request. It sounds subtle as those in the list were just invited to assemblies where they were oriented with the drug war program and requested to quit with drugs and reform their lives for good.
The orientation sounds good but the former and now president in detention were also lecturing police officers on the “tokhang” strategy, instructing them to kill drug suspects on the ground of self-defense, making sure that the killed suspect would be portrayed and reported as having resisted arrest, with plantd evidence of being in possession of illegal drugs and gun. Then in a blink of an eye, the persons in the list of suspected drug addicts that is well kept from the public eye.
The former and now detained president and his loyal hard but now soft rock police general had promised each other to hold each other in sickness and in health until death of the first to leave for the final journey to everlasting, as in the immortal song entitle “eternal flame”.
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