FOR the first time, the city police conducted an Oplan Tokhang inside an exclusive village in Barangay Guadalupe Thursday morning.
Chief Insp. Jose Gesto, chief of the Guadalupe police, said that the Tokhang was successful because residents from the village participated in the program.
“Wala namang nag-oppose. In fact, malipayon man gani sila sa atong gihimo (No one opposed to the idea in fact, they were glad with our activity),” Gesto said.
Some policemen gave calling cards with the police stations’ contact number in case of emergency to several homeowners who greeted them.
Gesto said that it was the management of the village that initiated the activity, requesting the police to do an Oplan Tokhang in their place.
The Oplan Tokhang is the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) flagship program where the police knock on the doors of suspected users and pushers to ask them to quit their involvement with the illegal drug trade.
Steps
City Director Joel Doria said the police’s guidelines for the Tokhang is simply knocking on the doors of the residents and information dissemination, where they distribute calling cards, fliers and leaflets to the people about their campaign against illegal drugs.
“This is the homeowners’ way of showing support to our anti-drugs campaign and they are very supportive of it,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
On Saturday, the city director will meet with several presidents from homeowners’ associations in Cebu City to have a dialogue with them.
It will be called Oplan Taphang, or Oplan Tapok-Hangyo, to gather the homeowners and request for their cooperation with the police.
Just recently, at least 100 bar owners and managers in Cebu City had a dialogue with the police to show their support to the campaign, especially to prevent the proliferation of party drugs inside nightclubs and bars.
This was after PNP Chief Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa announced that posh villages and subdivision are not exempted from Oplan Tokhang.
Busted
In another development, two known drug pushers were arrested during a buy-bust in an interior portion of Sitio Lahing-Lahing, Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.
Operatives from the National Bureau of Investigation caught Rogelio Abasalo, 39 and Julius Compayan, 39 inside their drug den.
The operation yielded P30,000 worth of shabu, various drug paraphernalia, equipment and instruments for packing and selling shabu.
A certain Arnold Clemen, who assisted Abasalo in maintaining the drug den, is still at large.