FROM KNOCK and plead to buzz and inform.
Six upscale villages in Makati City have opened their gates to the police so they can go house-to-house in line with a 鈥渞einvigorated鈥 Oplan Tokhang antidrug campaign.
Accompanied by barangay and homeowners鈥 association officials, policemen on Monday entered Magallanes and Forbes Park to distribute leaflets while urging residents to report drug users in the neighborhood.
Makati Mayor Abigail Binay earlier appealed to the exclusive subdivisions to cooperate in the drive. This was after the local police said they were unable to take Tokhang into the gated communities after their officials issued certifications that there were no drug suspects among their residents. The four other villages are Bel-Air, Dasmari帽as, San Lorenzo and Urdaneta.
After a consultation on Aug. 19, village officials agreed to devise an alternative to Tokhang which they called 鈥淜apit-Bisig Kontra Droga,鈥 an information campaign that will allow the police to distribute leaflets as long as they are accompanied by village officials.
Forbes Park barangay chair Evangeline Manotok said residents were apprehensive over reports that the police were allowed to conduct Tokhang in the gated communities of BF Homes in Para帽aque City and Ayala Alabang in Muntinlupa City.
Manotok said some of the feedback she received were: 鈥淲hat if they plant evidence?鈥 鈥淭here should be a search warrant.鈥 鈥淒on鈥檛 you dare (allow them).鈥
She explained to them that the house-to-house visit was among the requirements for their community to be declared 鈥渄rug-free.鈥
鈥(The police) are instructed to merely knock on your gates and hand over the information leaflets to you or members of your household. In no case shall the PNP be allowed to enter your residence or premises without your personal invitation,鈥 Manotok told residents in a circular.
Armand Padilla, barangay chair of Magallanes, said the concerned villages would also conduct seminars for parents on how to spot drug addicts, and separate seminars for the youth and house helpers.
Senior Supt. Tomas Apolinario Jr., director of the Southern Police District, maintained that the leaflet distribution was still part of Oplan Tokhang.
鈥淚n the reinvigorated Oplan Tokhang, we go to residents to inform them of the antiillegal drug program. We give them fliers containing contact numbers (where they can report drug suspects),鈥 Apolinario said.
He said the initial goal of Tokhang, which targets the homes of drug suspects identified by the barangay government, was still being pursued alongside the information drive.
Among those who invited Manotok, Apolinario and Makati police chief Senior Supt. Rommil Mitra to their premises at Forbes Park was the Indian ambassador to the country, Lalduhthlana Ralte.
In a statement, Binay commended the barangay leaders and residents of the six villages 鈥渇or weighing in on the ongoing war against drugs. I hope this is the beginning of your sustained cooperation and support to the campaign.鈥
As of Sept. 1, the Makati police have recorded 1,289 drug suspects who 鈥渟urrendered鈥 under Tokhang. A total of 108 suspects have been arrested, consisting of 56 users and 52 pushers.