Police in the Philippines on Monday resumed President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, making visits to the homes of users and dealers to convince them to surrender, but the national police chief declined to guarantee that blood would not be shed. But he could not promise a “foolproof anti-drug campaign that would be bloodless”, Dela Rosa added, as the police were “not dealing with people who are in their proper state of mind”. In the dialect of Duterte’s southern hometown of Davao, “Tokhang” is a combination of the words “knock” and “plead”. The government lost 85 police and soldiers in the drugs war, police data show. To ensure transparency, Dela Rosa invited human rights advocates, priests and the media to join the relaunched program of home visits.

Source: Egypt Independent January 29, 2018 09:45 UTC