AGENTS of the Philippine National Police are monitoring thousands of drug offenders who were freed from jail after being arrested in anti-narcotics operations since 2016 only to be rearrested again for a similar offense, PNP spokesman Colonel Ysmael S. Yu said yesterday.
Citing official records, the PNP spokesperson said that PNP operatives have rearrested 2,794 repeat offenders from the 19,947 arrested drug suspects who were freed through plea bargaining over the past four years.
Another244 similarly freed drug suspects were arrested for involvement in other crimes, he added.
Citing data from the Crime Information Reporting and Analysis System (CIRAS) of the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, Yu said 66 of these repeat offenders are appealing anew plea bargaining.
He said the PNP is providing the judiciary and prosecution services with records of these repeat offenders for reference.
PNP CIRAS records showed that a total of 329,171 drug suspects have been arrested by anti-drug operating teams of the PNP under General Camilo Pancratius P. Cascolan and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency headed by Director General Wilkins M. Villanueva) from July 1, 2016, to last October 15.
In the National Capital Region, CIRAS data said that a total of 101,058 drug peddlers and users have been apprehended while Police Regional Offices 4-A and 3 in Calabarzon and Central Luzon regions respectively arrested 73,458 and 41,755 drug offenders.
CIRAS reports also bared that another 38,867 drug personalities were arrested in Central Visayas, 11,331 in Northern Mindanao and 10,040 in Western Visayas during the past four years.
