They were warned, pleaded upon, cajoled and yet they still thought the promised change is just a rhetoric, just like in the past.

Had they decided to peacefully surrender, nine Boholano drug personalities could have been alive like the 172 whom police arrested in line with the intensified drive against illegal drugs.

But, with the determination to skip jail, these nine learned too late where fighting it out with authorities could lead to their deaths.

Of the nine which Bohol police claimed as legitimate kills, seven were pushers while two were plain users who tried to shoot it out with police operatives, Camp Dagohoy through Police Superintendent Lorenzo Batuan reported.

At the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) meeting held at the People’s Mansion August 25, Supt Batuan appraised council members of the update on Oplan Toktok Hangyo (Tokhang) in Bohol which the Bohol police implemented.

The data which Supt. Batuan presented reflect the start of the Tokhang implementation in July 1 to August 18.

And in the 49 days, the government operatives’ flagship anti-drug campaign has netted in Bohol a total of 31,306 drug “surrenderers,” after 18, 763 visits to houses where reported drug personalities reside.

Tokhang, which is just a part of Operation Plan Double barrel entails a team of police officers visiting houses of drug personalities: pushers and users, P/Supt. Batuan explained at the PPOC.

Once there, the police, led by a commissioned officer and a barangay official, talks to the drug personality or their family members about personally appearing and surrendering to clear their names, Batuan added.

Finally, the team visiting the houses would plead to the subjects in the visit to stop and keep away from the illegal activities.

Batuan, who sits as Camp Dagohoy Planning and Operations chief, also admitted that they had a baseline list of drug personalities, which they obtained through a tedious process.

He emphasized that the process involves five stages which includes collection and validation of information, coordination with other allied law enforcement agencies, actual house visitation, processing and documentation as well as monitoring and evaluation.

Police authorities bared that aside from their own intelligence network and the reports generated from the Barangay Anti Drug Abuse Council, the list that they keep is also validated by allied intelligence sources.

He also said, from the same list, authorities coordinate with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to firm up the list.

As of June 30, Bohol Provincial Police Office (BPPO) had 803 drug users and 1,154 pushers or a total of 1,957 in their watch list, Camp Dagohoy revealed.

Of the 803 users and 1,154 personalities on their list, only 306 users and 365 pushers surrendered or personally appeared at the police stations.

And out of the 18,763 households visited, Bohol police had 29,921 users and 1,385 pushers surrendering, counting the baseline data and the newly identified personalities with drug relations.

Camp Dagohoy also admitted that in the number are users who may have used drugs a few times, but surrendered for fear that their surrendered friends may squeal and rat them out.

Also arrested from continuing police operations on the High Value Targets and Low Value Targets are 73 users and 69 pushers not in their initial list, Batuan said.

And from their baseline data, BPPO also arrested 1 user and 29 pushers.

As this happened, Camp Dagohoy reminded “surrenderers” to make true their promise of permanently stopping from any illegal drug activities as the police would be relentless in their campaign and could still get them with the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of drug surrenders. (rac/PIA-7/Bohol)