MANILA, Philippines — The Senate investigation on the deadly shootout between members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) set for Monday, March 15, has been postponed anew, Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa announced Sunday,
In a notice of postponement from the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, of which Dela Rosa is the chairman, it read that the scheduled hearings is “postponed until further notice” as resource persons PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas and PDEA director-general Wilkins Villanueva both tested for COVID-19.
The PNP announced that Sinas tested positive for COVID-19 last March 11. Villanueva, meanwhile, disclosed he was positive for the viral disease on Sunday.
On Feb. 24, PDEA and PNP operatives engaged in a deadly shootout along Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City. Five people died due to the “misencounter”, while four others were wounded.
It was on Saturday when dela Rosa first announced that the Senate investigation into the shootout will finally push through on March 15.
The hearing was originally set for March 2, but was deferred after President Rodrigo Duterte requested to both chambers of Congress to postpone their respective investigations to give way to the National Bureau of Investigation’s own probe on the matter.