‘Mistrust’ not a factor behind near misencounter between PNP, PDEA — Eleazar

Newly appointed Chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Police Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar. Niño Jesus Orbeta/Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said Wednesday he does not think that professional mistrust between PNP and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) operatives factored in the near misencounter last week, insisting that only miscommunication led to the incident.

“In this particular case, I don’t think so. Nagkataon lang siguro na malaki nga yung area of operation,” Eleazar said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel when asked if mistrust could have led to the near “misencounter.”

(In this particular case, I don’t think so. It just so happened that the area of operation is huge.)

“Alam mo yung mistrust, hindi natin masasabing mawawala yan. That is why [PDEA] General [Wilkins] Villanueva and me would like to show our operatives in our agencies na ang ganda ng coordination namin sa top level, it should be replicated doon sa baba,” he added.

(We cannot say mistrust will be gone. That is why General Villanueva and [I] would like to show our operatives in our agencies that our coordination at the top level is good and it should be replicated by them.)

According to Eleazar, officers of Quezon City Police District (QCPD) and PDEA agents had coordination but “there was miscommunication” which led to another near misencounter in Fairview, Quezon City on Friday, May 14.

To prevent such incidents from happening anew, the PNP and PDEA intend to craft unified guidelines in anti-illegal drug operations.

In February, a shootout between PNP and PDEA officers during a buy-bust mission resulted in the death of four persons—two police officers, a PDEA agent, and a PDEA informant.

EDV