A buy bust operation on Wednesday night turned into a “misencounter” between the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
Two police officers, a PDEA agent and an informant were reported dead while one cop and three PDEA agents were injured. The fray happened inside a mall along Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City. Due to this incident, the commercial establishment has been placed under lockdown.
According to National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Chief Police Major General Vicente Danao, the PDEA director called him up during the misencounter to inform about the presence of PDEA personnel.
“So I immediately called also ‘yung director na PDEA ang nasa kabila (the director that the other group is the PDEA) so I advised them to stand down and let cooler heads prevail.”
According to PDEA Spokesperson Derrick Carreon, the operatives of their special enforcement service are the ones involved in the misencounter.
The PDEA and PNP have created a joint board of inquiry (BOI) to identify the possible liability of the organizations to each other.
In a briefing, the two organizations refused to publicize the details of the operation.
PDEA Chief Director General Wilkins Villanueva requested to give their BOI time to collect evidence on the incident.
10 police officers and 7 PDEA agents are now under restrictive custody of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) as part of the investigation.
The involved law enforcement agencies did not rule out the possibility of being played by the syndicates. Both sides asserted that their conducted operations are legitimate.
The two parties assured that the incident will not affect their relationship especially on the war against drugs.
Report from Bea Bernardo
