The Philippine National Police will shift its anti-illegal drugs campaign starting July by pursuing more the drug suppliers and syndicates, according to its police spokesperson.

In a radio interview on Sunday, Police Colonel Bernard Banac said they want to defeat the “illegal drugs menace,” which has been victimizing the whole country.

Banac said their street-level operation will continue but as they repackage their strategy, the PNP will now focus more on the supply side of illegal drugs.

He said based on their monitoring, drug supply continues despite their intensified campaign against illegal drugs.

“We will (focus) on drug supply, syndicates and suppliers. We will focus on these because we can see that despite our Oplan Tokhang and Oplan Double Barrel campaign, there are still pushers (on the streets),” he said.

“We need to remove the network of supply of illegal drugs… our attention is to stop the distribution of illegal drugs,” he added.

Banac said they will work together with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency on their new strategy.

Asked if there will be possible casualties on their new strategy, he said they are hoping to lessen casualties during operation.

However, Banac said that they will not hesitate on using police force if they feel that their life is under threat.

“We do not only have casualties on users, pushers but also our PNP personnel,” he said.

“We want to prevent it but we need to implement the law that once the suspect fights back… we don’t have a choice but to use our force that is also given by our law,” he added.

Since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office exactly three years ago and launched war against illegal drugs, the PNP has recorded that at least 6,000 suspected drug pushers and users were killed on its operations. Ella Dionisio/DMS