A high-ranking police officer has confirmed that most of the recorded human rights violations occurred during the height of the bloody drug war campaign under former President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.
Espenido revealed that individuals close to the former president, along with their colleagues in the Philippine National Police (PNP), abused the “tokhang” operations for their own personal gain.
He disclosed that police officers were able to commit human rights violations to meet their targets. The PNP leadership had reportedly set a quota of 50 to 100 drug suspects to be killed each day, with a reward of P20,000.00 for each police officer involved.
Espenido clarified that, on his part, the purpose of their “tokhang” operations was to encourage drug suspects to surrender so they could be placed under rehabilitation.
He also added that when he was assigned to Ozamiz City, then-PNP Chief and now Senator Ronald dela Rosa called him and instructed not to interfere with a certain mayor, who was an operator of small-town lottery and suspected to be a drug lord.
According to Espenido, intelligence funds and money from Philippine offshore gambling operations (POGOs) were used to fund the reward system.
It is estimated that around 30,000 drug suspects were believed to have died during the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign.