An Opinion on the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Campaign Plan- Project: "Double Barrel

Command Memorandum Circular (CMC) No. 16 2016 governs and prescribes the general guidelines,
procedures and tasks of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the conduct of the so-called Project: Double
Barrel in support to the Barangay Drug Clearing Strategy of the government and the neutralization of illegal drug
personalities nationwide. Although it emanates a bold and noble cause for the country, it cannot be said that it is
without flaws in its wordings and especially in the execution of such a moutainous task.
As its name implies, Project: Double Barrel consists of two approaches executed in a two-pronged attack
Project Tokhang and Project HVT, the two having different scopes of the same goal which is to eventually eradicate
drug-involved individuals either through voluntary surrender or a case build-up and negation instead in case of
hostility/denial. The former, having the task of ridding drugs in the barangay level through house visitations, is
currently subject to public criticism due to the piling up of what they call extra-judicial killings or EJKs, despite
what CMC No. 16 2016 both prescribes and proscribes. In the House to House Visitation Stage, part c, it
explicitly states that these operations and those tasked should conduct the visit that shall not violate the rights of the
subject. Also, the Processing and Documentation Stage part e and Monitoring and Evaluation Stage part a both
state that appropriate case build-up, legitimate arrests and the filing of appropriate criminal charges against subjects
involved shall be done. Although it is downright obvious that even without stating in the CMC that police officers
should not violate the rights of the accused, it was still prescribed in the said Circular, but is ironically violated
nonetheless resulting to EJKs, at least according to human rights advocates, concerned citizens and especially the
relatives of the victims of such killings. Police officers defend themselves by invoking self-defense as a justifying
circumstance in their conduct of neutralizing hostile drug personalities, as what the Chief Executive himself adviced
them. A shoot to kill order was also orally given in cases where the subject retaliates or even attempts to fight
back through the use of firearms or other deadly weapons which endangers the lives of the tasked officer. This
would effectively give the police officers much leeway in the smooth and safe neutralization merely by invoking
such justification of self-defense, not to mention the material discretionary feature it provides them in dealing with
hostiles. Unfortunately, it is greatly one-sided when the police says its a case of a hostile subject when in fact
evidences could have been planted to force justification on the killing, in the name of noble cause and welfare.
Even ignoring the fact that scaliwags in the PNP exist, it still cannot be justified by instant death. Those accused and
killed were clearly deprived of due process. One cannot fathom the eerie consequences if this drug cleansing of the
country were not corrected to simply not violate ones right to due process and the right to be heard. As life comes
first in the enumeration of life, liberty and property in Article 3, Section 1, of the Constitution, this stress its huge
importance, and it simply cannot be taken back once it is lost.