Tuesday, August 07, 2007 ‘Fast-track drug operation guidelines for cops, PDEA’
THE House committee on dangerous drugs will check on the status of a memorandum of agreement between the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) after the committee received numerous complaints about the agency’s anti-drugs operational guidelines.
“We’ll pressure (the) PDEA to come up with this memorandum of agreement (MOA). I received numerous complaints already,” said committee vice chairman Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City south district).
The new MOA will set working guidelines on the involvement of PNP personnel in all anti-drug operations after the PNP was pulled out last July 4.
Agreement
A memorandum was then issued requiring PDEA personnel’s involvement in all anti-drug operations.
Mandaue City Police Office Director Alexander Abadinas earlier scored the impossibility of this requirement, as PDEA only has three operating personnel for the whole region.
The fourth personnel is Acting PDEA 7 Regional Officer Jennifer Rosales, who announced this requirement in her memorandum dated July 10, which she sent to all police units.
“Prior to the anti-drug operations, all units concerned should coordinate with PDEA, which, in turn, will provide personnel to exercise direct control and supervision of all planned anti-drug operations except inflagrante delicto cases,” her memorandum read.
Difficulty
“What if Santander asks for PDEA personnel immediately, do you think the agency could send one down there in an hour,” Abadinas asked during a press conference.
He said PDEA can’t even accommodate his six police stations if these simultaneously conduct an anti-drugs operation, what more if the province’s 47 police stations all decide to each conduct one too.
In a separate interview yesterday, Cuenco admitted he was getting impatient by the agency’s slow response.
He said he already called PDEA’s attention to the matter last week.
As a result of this new requirement, several anti-drug operations have been put on hold, and some police commanders are worried that drug traffickers who will be arrested and charged will use the absence of a PDEA agent in their defense.
Baltazar Dalangauan, PDEA deputy general for administration, promised the dangerous drugs committee members last Aug. 1 that the agency will come up with a new MOA that will address this problem.
Effect
A lawyer close to PDEA, Clarence Paul Oaminal admitted that the new requirement has stalled several anti-drug operations in the region.
The assignment of policemen to PDEA was one of the provisions of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 was covered by a MOA that expired after five years so the PNP was pulled out of the agency. Then a memorandum was issued requiring PDEA personnel to supervise all PNP-initiated drug operations.
But Oaminal said there is no provision in the law that says that the original MOA had expired. (OCP)
