The Senate and House committees on dangerous drugs are eyeing separate investigations into the gunfight between units of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) that left at least two dead. 

House panel chair and Surigao del Norte 2nd District Representative Robert Ace Barbers told Rappler on Thursday, February 25, that he would call for a motu proprio hearing on the shootout “by next week.”

In the Senate, Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa – former PNP chief – said the committee on public order and dangerous drugs, which he chairs, will conduct an inquiry into the PNP-PDEA misencounter on Tuesday, March 2.

Quezon City 2nd District Representative Precious Hipolito Castelo also said in a statement that she would file a resolution to formally call for an investigation on the PNP-PDEA shootout that happened in front of a mall within her district Wednesday night, February 24.

In another statement, Barbers cited various irregularities in the bungled buy-bust operation between the PNP and PDEA – the vanguards of President Rodrigo Duterte’s landmark but controversial campaign against illegal drugs. 

The lawmaker said the “very unfortunate” incident would not have ended in a shootout had the PNP informed the PDEA about the buy-bust operation. 

Under Section 86 of the Republic Act (RA) No. 9185 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, the police and other law enforcement agencies must “maintain close coordination with the PDEA on all drug-related matters.”

“Both police and PDEA claim their respective anti-drug operations in Ever Gotesco yesterday are legitimate. If this is so, there could be no firefight because there should be coordination between them as required under Section 86 of RA 9165 before any legitimate anti-drug operation can be carried out,” Barbers said. 

This was echoed by Castelo, who questioned why protocols were not followed.

“So why the misencounter? Were the two groups unaware that they would operate in the same area or place? And why did it take so long to stop the gunfight if there was prior coordination? These are additional questions we would like answered,” she said.

Barbers also found as “highly questionable” the reports saying the PDEA agents were allegedly conducting a drug “sell-bust” operation.

“If PDEA adopts ‘sell-bust’ as its policy, then it would appear that this organization is like a drug syndicate for practicing and allowing drug trafficking. Therefore, both claims of the police and PDEA that their anti-drug operations last night are legitimate are both highly questionable,” said Barbers. 

He said the House panel  would also probe the “suspicious angle” on the alleged presence of high-ranking police officers during the PNP-PDEA shootout. 

‘Misencounter’ despite big intelligence funds

Senator Risa Hontiveros questioned the “dramatic lack of coordination” between the PNP and PDEA despite their huge intelligence funds. This year, PNP was given P856 million in intelligence funds while PDEA was allocated P500 million.

“Someone somewhere must have been grossly negligent. Ang laki ng intelligence funds nila pareho pero ganyan ang nangyari (They have such big intelligence funds yet this still happened),” Hontiveros said.

“We need to look into this further. It is very alarming that this is not the first time that such a ‘misencounter’ has happened. The National Capital Region Police Office did admit that this has happened numerous times. These ‘misencounters’ should be rare, not common,” added the senator.  

Senate President Vicente Sotto III also said the misencounter between the PNP and PDEA “shows the wisdom and ripeness” of his proposal to create a united Presidential Durg Enforcement Authority.

“Check my bill. It places enforcement, prosecution, prevention, and rehabilitation all in one super body! This fiasco will not be the last if we do not act on this soon,” said Sotto via Viber. 

The firefight caused panic, with images and videos of the shootout going viral on social media. 

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group – a unit usually reserved for high-profile investigations – was set to lead the PNP and PDEA’s joint probe into the incident. – Rappler.com