PNP chief Debold Sinas yesterday said joint anti-drug operations of the PNP and Philippine Drug Enforcement were not affected by last week’s misencounter in Quezon City that left two policemen, a PDEA agent, and a PDEA informant dead.
In a press briefing at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Sinas also said the PNP has began turning over evidence it has collated to the National Bureau of Investigation, which has been tasked by President Duterte to probe the shootout.
“We’re (PNP and PDEA) continuing with our operations, they were not affected. What we are just trying to avoid is the occurrence of similar situation in other regions,” said Sinas.
Sinas said he and PDEA chief Wilkins Villanueva have told their respective regional directors not to let the “unfortunate incident” affect the future joint anti-drug operations of the two agencies.
“Our regional districts are not affected… On the part of PDEA, he (Villanueva) informed his regional directors to coordinate and discuss matters pertaining to operations to prevent a similar incident,” said Sinas.
Sinas said the among the evidence turned over by the PNP to the NBI were the cellphones of the personnel involved, firearms, and slugs recovered at the crime scene.
The two agencies said they were conducting buy-bust operations in Metro Manila before the shootout at the Ever Gotesco mall in Quezon City.
Sinas said the QC policemen involved in the misencounter will temporarily do administrative work, pending the result of the NBI probe.
Meanwhile, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chair of the committee on dangerous drugs, said his proposed amendments to the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 could have prevented the misencounter had it been passed sooner because the bill seeks to required the use of body cameras in all anti-drug operations.
The measure was passed by the House in the 17th Congress but the Senate did not have its own version of the bill.
Upon the resumption of the 18th Congress, Barbers refiled the same bill and was able to have it passed on second reading just last Tuesday, a day before the misencounter.
In the proposed amendments, particularly on Section 21, body cameras are mandatory equipment to be worn by law enforcement operatives during actual anti-drug operations. — With Wendell Vigilia
