Eleazar: PNP, PDEA need unified guideline to avoid ‘misencounter’ 

Newly appointed chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Police Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar gestures as he delivers his speech during his first Flag Raising and Assumption of Office as the 26th Chief of PNP in Camp Crame, Quezon City, on Monday, May 10, 2021. INQUIRER file photo / Niño Jesus Orbeta

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Monday vowed to strengthen its coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) with the planned creation of a unified operational guidelines to avoid future “misencounters” during anti-drug operations.

“Maglalagay kami ng unified operational guidelines, so that hindi na mauulit,” PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said in a press briefing on Monday.

(We will put in place unified operational guidelines so that the incident won’t happen again.)

“What we are avoiding is for the operatives of the PNP and the PDEA to operate [in] one place [at] one particular time,” he added, partly in Filipino.

This came after officers of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) and agents of the PDEA had another “misencounter” in Fairview, Quezon City on Friday, May 14.

According to Eleazar, both PNP and PDEA operatives were unknowingly in the middle of the same buy-bust operation.

“Nagkataon lang na hindi pa nako-consummate yung isa, ‘yung isa magi-start pa lang,” Eleazar explained.

(It’s just a coincidence that one hasn’t finished the operation yet, the other is just starting.)

The two law enforcement agencies targeted the same drug group but different drug personalities, according to Eleazar.

The PNP chief likened the incident to a vehicular collision, comparing the two agencies to two cars colliding because they are both occupying the same space.

“So ang gawin natin dapat, siguraduhin natin na na yung operatiba ng PNP at operatiba ng PDEA ay hindi magpapangita kahit ano pang klaseng operation nila diyan,” said Eleazar.

(So what we have to do is to make sure that the operatives of the PNP and PDEA do not come across each other regardless of what kind of operation they conduct.)

Eleazar then warned that operatives who do not follow the guidelines might get sanctioned.

“Specific guidelines na ‘yung ilalabas natin eh. So kung di susunod diyan, administratively, bibigyan siguro sila ng sanction,” said Eleazar.

(We’ll be issuing specific guidelines. So if they don’t follow it, administratively, they will probably be sanctioned.)

The incident on Fairview was not the first time PNP and PDEA had an encounter, on February 24, a shooting occurred near a mall along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, which turned out to be a “misencounter” between the two groups of operatives.

The infamous incident resulted in the death of four individuals: two police officers, a PDEA agent, and a PDEA informant.

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