Senator Risa Hontiveros on Monday, March 1, pressed the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs to look into the current law enforcement procedures and protocols to prevent another “misencounter” between law enforcement agencies in the future.
Hontiveros said there shouldn’t be a repeat of the recent shootout at Ever Gotesco mall involving anti-drug operatives of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
“We must find out now. We need to know if the incident was a simple ‘misencounter’ caused by gross negligence, or if it resulted from deliberate unlawful acts committed by either the police officers or the PDEA agents involved,” Hontiveros said in a statement.
“We, in the Senate, are well within our rights to investigate this further, especially that the details are still murky,” the senator further said.
In filing Senate Resolution No. 667, the lawmaker said there is a need to ascertain whether a “sell-bust” indeed occurred as claimed by National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Maj. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr.
“If that was indeed a ‘sell-bust’ then it means, that our officials acted like they were sellers. And it’s clear that that is illegal. This should not happen again,” she said.
She also pointed out that even Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, in a speech before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), admitted that law enforcement protocols were not observed in police anti-narcotics operations, which led to deaths.
Guevarra, according to Hontiveros, also said admitted that the filing of administrative and criminal charges had been recommended against numerous police officers.
“Let’s put an end to this senseless killings. This has become a trend, when it shouldn’t be,” she lamented.
“Let’s not wait for more deXaths before we clean up not only our law enforcement protocols, but also and more especially, our law enforcement officers,” Hontiveros stressed.
Over the weekend, Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, chair of the Senate public order panel, decided to indefinitely postpone its supposed investigation on the incident scheduled tomorrow, March 2, after President Duterte instructed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to be the sole agency to probe the shootout.
Dela Rosa said he “acceded” to the President’s request for Congress to delay its investigation pending the NBI’s probe.
His counterpart in the House, Surigao del Sur 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, likewise, announced that the House of Representatives will also “temporarily suspend” its inquiry into the shootout as courtesy to the President’s request and in order not to hinder the ongoing NBI probe.