📷: PNP San Fernando | FB
Human rights alliance Karapatan has denounced the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) “Safer Cities Initiative,” branding it a “crackdown against the poor” amid worsening economic and political turmoil.
The directive, issued by DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla, ordered the Philippine National Police to intensify enforcement of ordinances on public drinking, curfew for minors, anti-noise rules, and similar measures. According to the PNP’s NCR office, nearly 5,000 individuals were accosted and arrested in a single day of operations last Monday.
“Let us be clear: this is not about safety. This is a crackdown on the poor, plain and simple,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay. She argued that the campaign is “performative,” designed to project order while ignoring the root causes of public insecurity—soaring prices, joblessness, and hunger.
Karapatan likened the initiative to the Duterte-era *Oplan Tambay*, which saw thousands of arrests in poor communities. Palabay warned that the sweeping enforcement of ordinances risks arbitrary arrests, extortion, and abuse, despite loitering having been decriminalized under Republic Act No. 10158.
“Instead of going after corrupt officials and plunderers, the government once again turns its force on ordinary people—those already robbed of livelihoods and dignity by an unjust system,” Palabay said.
The group stressed that genuine public safety cannot be achieved through repression. “You cannot police away poverty. You cannot arrest your way out of a crisis driven by skyrocketing prices and inequality,” Palabay added.
Karapatan called on the DILG and PNP to halt the campaign, insisting that “public safety must be anchored on justice, not repression.” # (ZIA LUNA)
