The Internal Affairs Service (IAS) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) is set to conclude its investigation on the administrative cases against the Quezon City policemen who were involved on the February 24 ‘misencounter’ with agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar said it is the regional IAS under the National Capital Region Police Office which conducted the investigation.

Eleazar issued the statement as the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has concluded its own findings into the Quezon City misencounter and recommended the filing of homicide cases and other criminal charges against both policemen and PDEA agents.

“The Philippine National Police welcomes the result of the investigation and likewise expresses appreciation on the painstaking work of the National Bureau of Investigation on this case as manifested by the voluminous documents that came out as the product of the probe,” said Eleazar.

“All the PNP personnel involved are fully-accounted and would be made available should the Department of Justice require their participation in the conduct of its own review with regard to the findings submitted by the NBI,” he added.

Eleazar said that while the ‘misencounter’ was indeed unfortunate and tragic, it paved the way for the identification of the gray areas in the coordination protocol between the PNP and the PDEA.

He was referring to the Memorandum Circular, entitled Unified Coordination Guidelines in the Conduct of Anti-Illegal Drugs Operations, that was signed by him and the PDEA Director General last July.

“As PDEA Director General Wilkins Villanueva himself said, this was the first time in almost two decades of the history of drug enforcement in the country that proper coordination and clear-cut policy were finally established,” said Eleazar.

“The Philippine National Police commits to honoring and institutionalizing the PDEA-PNP Memorandum Circular as both law enforcement agencies aspire to put an end to the illegal drugs menace in the country—which we both made significant gains in the past five years,” he added.

On Tuesday, Sept. 8, PNP and PDEA, along with the military, Bureau of Customs and Natinal Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) personnel, seized almost P4 billion worth of shabu durng the Zambales and Bataan operations that led to the death of four drug traffickers and arrest of three others.