Policy reforms needed to prevent repeat of PNP – PDEA shootout, says Lacson

Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson   (Albert Calvelo /Senate PRIB)

MANILA, Philippines — To prevent a repeat of the deadly shootout between operatives of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Philippine Drug Enforcement agency, the government may need to adjust its policies and put the PDEA as the “overseer” in anti-drug operations, Senator Panfilo Lacson said.

“We have to resolve the trust issue between the PNP and PDEA. But it would be better if the PDEA acted as overseer in anti-drug operations, and focus on intelligence-gathering, whether it is technical or human intelligence,” Lacson, a former PNP chief said in an interview on dzBB Sunday.

PDEA should leave the assault operations to specially trained police personnel, he added.

Scene of the Crime Operatives inspect the site of the shootout between PNP and PDEA operatives near a mall and fast food restaurant along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City last Thursday, February 25, 2021,  (INQUIRER.net/Katherine G. Adraneda)

“In other countries, the output of intelligence work is shared with specially trained police units, with one or two (anti-drug) operatives accompanying or ‘guiding’ the police force in the operation,” Lacson said.

“That is the ideal situation where coordination is smooth and tight. The last thing we need is the reluctance of our agencies to work together because of what happened,” he added.

Lacson, who headed the PNP from 1999 to 2001, noted that this setup is used in the United States wherein representatives from the US Drug Enforcement Agency “oversees” or “guides” specially-trained police forces in assault operations.

He underscored the need for such policy shifts to enable the government to be “two or three steps ahead” of drug syndicates, and address the possibility that drug syndicates manipulate “informants” to mislead government forces into fighting each other.

“Kailangan ng gobyerno, kaming mga policy makers, two to three steps ahead sa iniisip ng sindikato (We in the government must make sure we are two to three steps ahead of the syndicates),” the senator said.

At least four people were killed while four others were injured in the shootout between agents of the PDEA’s Special Enforcement Service (SES) and the District Special Operations Unit (DSOU) of the Quezon City Police that stemmed from a buy-bust operation near a mall along Commonwealth Avenue on Wednesday last week.

“Napakalungkot at hindi dapat maulit ang pangyayari (What happened was very sad and should not be allowed to happen again),” Lacson said.

“Sad to say, the government’s anti-drug efforts have not succeeded. Otherwise, we would have made a big dent in the operations of drug syndicates. This is shown by the mere fact that shabu is still being sold and so many drug addicts are roaming the streets,” he added.

Lacson, meanwhile, expressed support for a bill filed by Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III, which, among others, creates the Presidential Drug Enforcement Authority as the supervising agency for a “proper, more effective and efficient” implementation of the country’s anti-drug law or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

The proposed agency will also absorb the policy-making and strategy-formulating functions of the Dangerous Drugs Board.

The Senate and the House of Representatives were supposed to open their respective investigations into the shootout but postponed the same after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to solely investigate the incident to  “ensure impartiality.”

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