MANILA — The new head of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Friday said he wanted to "save" drug users and go after narcotics distributors.

"We want to save talaga yung mga user natin, we want to save the user [through] rehabilitation. But really, yung mga nagdi-distribute, yun talaga tatargetin natin," PNP Chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda said.

"Lalo na sa ating pag-conduct ng operations against high-value individuals, at saka 'yung street-level individuals, 'yun ang bibilangin na accomplishment ng ating kapulisan," he told ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo.

(We want to save the users through rehabilitation. We will target the distributors. The conduct of operations against high-value and street-level individuals, that's what we will count as accomplishment.)

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He also urged policemen to conduct operations with honesty to regain public trust.

Some PNP officers are fighting allegations of a cover-up during the confiscation of some P6.7 billion worth of illegal drugs in Metro Manila late last year.

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"That (honesty) will help us get a high conviction rate... Lalabas at lalabas sa korte yan and that’s what I told to our commanders on the ground that really, when we file cases, it is something that should stand in court," he said.

(Honesty will help us get a high conviction rate. That will always come out in court.)

As of November last year, a total of 26,244 villages nationwide or around 74 percent of 35,356 drug-affected barangays have been cleared of drug users, the interior department said.

It also called on barangays to set up a system incentivizing constituents to maintain a drug-free community.

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