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Reuters

The head of the Philippines’ anti-narcotics agency on Friday warned of a reduced intensity in the country’s war on drugs after a removal of police from the campaign, which he hoped would only be temporary as his unit lacked manpower.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Aaron Aquino said he had only a fraction of the personnel and budget of police, and hoped President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to make his agency responsible for all operations would not be lasting.
“I know the public has high expectations but I am asking the public for understanding because of our limitations,” he said in a radio interview. “I hope this is just a temporary arrangement, we need the police.”

Amid unprecedented scrutiny of police conduct, the mercurial Duterte issued a memorandum on Tuesday ordering police to withdraw.
The authorities said the shift in strategy was to go after big drug syndicates.
National police chief Ronald dela Rosa on Friday said police could now focus efforts on catching mysterious gunmen who were assassinating drug users, to disprove allegations by human rights groups that police were behind such killings.
Police say they have killed 3,900 people in their anti-drugs operations over the past 15 months and deny allegations by activists that many of those were executions.
Police say they used deadly force in each of those cases, because suspects were armed and had resisted arrest.

In a tirade on Thursday loaded with profanity and aimed at his foreign and domestic critics, Duterte said deaths during PDEA’s operations were far less than police, and hoped “bleeding hearts” would be satisfied with his decision.
Aquino said the public might notice a slowdown in operations. He planned to ask for a bigger budget, to add 1,000-1,500 agents a year until 2022, adding it was unrealistic to expect the PDEA to fight the problem with its small numbers.
The agency has about 2,000 personnel, 1,100 of which are agents, compared to more than 175,000 police nationwide.

Amid anger over a high-profile kidnap and murder case involving police, Duterte suspended police from the drugs war in January and put PDEA in charge. He reinstated police soon after, saying drugs had flooded back onto the streets.
Why left-behind Filipinos back Rodrigo Duterte
In an interview with CNN Philippines, Dela Rosa suggested Duterte’s shift in strategy might have been a response to opinion polls that showed some public unease about the crackdown.
A survey on Sunday showed a significant slide in Duterte’s ratings, but another one by a different pollster, released on Friday, showed he was still hugely popular.

Dela Rosa said police were winning the campaign, having cut the drugs supply, made 113,000 arrests and convinced what he said were 1.3 million people to surrender.
However, he said it was “not a total victory”.
He said police would concentrate on stopping the shadowy gunmen on motorcycles who were killing drug users, which police have often described as vigilante murders.
Such killings are among the 2,600 murders since July last year that police believe may have been drug-related.
“People think these are also policemen, so I want these people stopped and arrested,” Dela Rosa said.
“We are intensifying intelligence, maximising police visibility to stop these criminals. We have to shoot them before they can shoot their targets.”


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The Philippines

Philippine anti-narcotics chief warns of drugs war slowdown due to manpower shortage

Locals look on as a police investigator checks the body of a man who was shot by unidentified gunmen in Makati. Photo: EPA

Philippine National Police chief Ronald Bato Dela Rosa holds an M60 machine gun during a Gun and Ammunition show at a mall in Mandaluyong city, metro Manila, Philippines July 13, 2017. REUTERS/Dondi Tawatao

epa06260159 Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino listens to questions from journalists during a destruction of seized equipment for the manufacture of illegal drugs in Valenzuela City, north of Manila, Philippines, 12 October 2017. The PDEA destroyed seized chemicals, materials and equipment for manufacturing illegal drugs worth some 10.7-million pesos (176,000 euro) as part of an anti-illegal drugs campaign. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte issued a memorandum dated 10 October giving the PDEA sole responsibility to lead anti-illegal drugs operations in the country, effectively halting operations headed by the Philippine National Police and other government agencies concerned. EPA-EFE/ROLEX DELA PENA

(FILES) This file photo taken on July 24, 2017 shows Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gesturing as he delivers his state of the nation address at Congress in Manila. Duterte has said he would not cooperate with a special anti-corruption prosecutor's investigation into allegations he acquired ill-gotten wealth, vowing he would "not submit" to its authority. / AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS

epa06260160 Personnel of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) adds neutralizing agents to seized chemicals used for the manufacture of illegal drugs, in Valenzuela City, north of Manila, Philippines, 12 October 2017. The PDEA destroyed seized chemicals, materials and equipment for manufacturing illegal drugs worth some 10.7-million pesos (176,000 euro) as part of an anti-illegal drugs campaign. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte issued a memorandum dated 10 October giving the PDEA sole responsibility to lead anti-illegal drugs operations in the country, effectively halting operations headed by the Philippine National Police and other government agencies concerned. EPA-EFE/ROLEX DELA PENA

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