Año debunks claim on Robredo ”Tokhang” has no operational guidelines

January 7, 2020

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Tuesday debunked the claim of Vice President Leni Robredo that the government’s “Oplan Tokhang” has no operational guidelines is not true.

“They have. As the (head of) PNP, I read their operational plan. From Oplan Tokhang to Oplan Double Barrel then Double Barrel Reloaded, its all documented,” Año told reporters in an interview at Camp Karingal.

“In the police and military, they cannot rely on the word of mouth because the people will always look for orders (and) documents,” he added.

Año said the report presented by Robredo is her own opinion about the government’s campaign against illegal drugs, however, he said it “defies logic”.

“Whoever made her marerials, that is actually the bereft of logic. It’s like counting the chickens before the eggs are hatch... so you cannot count this like (in the) bank which is compounded and compared it to the data reported by the PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) and DDB (Dangerous Drugs Board), so it defies logic,” he said.

He said the three tons supply of illegal drugs which reportedly came from the Philippine National Police- Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) was probably their “working data”.

This was mentioned in Robredo’s report last Monday.

“If we have that number, then maybe all of us are using illegal drugs... But you cannot generalize it as if it is the gospel truth,” Año said.

The interior secretary said he just wants to focus more on supervising the PNP and the local government units rather than concentrating on the “report” released Robredo.

“The Palace has already given its statement and I support the statement of the Palace. I rather concentrate and focus in supervising our PNP in doing their job and as a DILG (secretary) the involvement of our local govt to fight drugs,” he said. Ella Dionisio/DMS