Started in Davao City
Ismael Sueno, secretary of the Philippine Department of Interior and Local Government, has ordered police to apprehend and shut down illegal gaming operators using the same law enforcement principle that’s applied to drug dealers in the country.
The Philippine National Police and other law enforcement agencies will implement an approach called Oplan Tokhang to “go after illegal gambling lords, this time to ensure that appropriate taxes go to government coffers,” Sueno said.
The principle, which relies on grass-roots interrogations and reportedly has succeeded in getting drug dealers and pushers to give themselves up, also depends on “civilian volunteers” to help identify and apprehend those breaking the law. The principle was first used in Davao City, where current President Rodrigo Duterte once served as mayor. A government website contends that at the time, that city ranked among the safest in the world.
“We strongly believe that barangays (villages) know their neighborhood better,” Sueno has said. “People in barangays know who is who and who is doing what. People in barangays are the eyes and ears of government. Barangays as the smallest administrative unit of our government have a critical role in peace and order and consequently, local development.”
According to the Philippine Star, Sueno added that police must not “use or abuse Tokhang for their personal interests or some sort of vendetta against their enemies. Let us make sure that Tokhang is implemented for the sole purpose that it was conceived, and that is to round up drug personalities and other criminals.”
By some accounts, under the Duterte administration the country has seen more than 6,000 killings associated with the war on drugs, some carried out by presumed vigilante forces.
