MANILA – Vice President Leni Robredo, the newly-appointed drug czar, wants law enforcement agents to use body cameras in drug busts to protect the integrity of anti-narcotics operations.
Robredo said that body cameras are a must for the arresting officers as it would ensure the protection of both law enforcement agents and civilians.
“Indispensable iyong body cams for many reasons,” Robredo said in an interview with the media on Saturday.
“Kasi palitan ng accusations, pero iyong word of honor lang ng nagsasabi iyong pinapanindigan. Pero kung may body cams… ‘yong integrity ng operasyon, mape-preserve,” she added.
The Philippine National Police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency have earlier encouraged the use of body cameras and other gadgets to record anti-illegal drug operations, but these equipment have not been purchased.
“The government should invest on body cameras, and this is one of the things I will discuss when I met with the law enforcement cluster of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs,” Robredo said.
President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Robredo anti-drug czar after she called for a stop to “wrong” methods that did not bring down the number of drug addicts in the country.
However, Robredo seemed to have softened her stand on her previous call to allow the United Nations to conduct its investigation on the bloody war on drugs by the Duterte administration.
“Una, kaklaruhin ko, I did not say that. Iyong sinabi ko exactly was there was a need to reassess given the numbers that they’ve been giving to us,” Robredo said.
Government data showed around 6,000 have been killed in anti-drug operations since Duterte took office in July 2016./PN
