MANILA, Philippines - About 500 soldiers will soon join the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in the war against illegal drugs waged by President Duterte.
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Eduardo Año, speaking to reporters in Baguio City Saturday night, said the 500 would initially form the anti-illegal drugs task force.
He said the soldiers would have to undergo further training to carry out the job and they would have their own strike force.
“I already met with PDEA director Isidro Lapena. We already have a MOA (memorandum of agreement) with PDEA even before the President stopped the PNP (Philippine National Police) from conducting anti-drug operations,” Año explained.
“We will just renew this MOA because based on the President’s pronouncement, we will implement adjustments. We are just waiting for the EO (executive order) and we are ready to operate with PDEA,” he said.
He noted that PDEA would still be the main operating agency with the AFP just providing support in anti-illegal drug operations.
Año said the military would not carry out the war on drugs in the same way Oplan Tokhang was implemented by the PNP, as he gave assurance that “we will not be involved in the street, we’ll not be involved in running after street pushers.”
“The Armed Forces will help PDEA in running after high-level drug syndicates,” he said.
The AFP chief said the number of soldiers in the task force would also be adjusted depending on the necessity or level of threat.
“A task force could have as many as 5,000 (members). So that’s why it is a task force, depending on the requirement… on the situation,” he said.
The President relieved the PNP of the responsibility to operate against illegal drugs after a Korean businessman was kidnapped and killed in the guise of tokhang or operations against drug suspects.
Other cases of tokhang-for-ransom have also been reported, forcing the PNP leadership vowed to undertake a cleansing of their ranks.