Wednesday, November 21, 2007 Nalzaro: PDEA’s ‘Tetots’ By Bobby Nalzaro Saksi
THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 is now composed of newly hired and inexperienced personnel following the pull-out of people who were on detached service to the agency since its creation years ago. PDEA is still in the process of recruiting additional organic members.
Even then, the agency as of late has been performing well based on the number of arrests it has conducted, although it suffered a major setback recently that placed it in a bad light and was laughable. Here's the story:
PDEA's agents conducted a surveillance operation against an alleged drug pusher operating in Villagonzalo, Barangay Tejero. The suspect was known in the area as Tetots. Agents confirmed his involvement in the illegal drug trade following a series of test buys.
Through the help of its informants, the agency found out that Tetots’ real name was Federico Dequitos. So they immediately applied for a search warrant. Last Nov. 9, they raided Tetots’ residence but the subject eluded arrest. One of his cohorts was caught while repacking shabu.
Tetots’ relatives insisted that PDEA agents got the wrong name because the person they were trying to arrest was not Federico Dequitos, the name listed in the search warrant. It turned out that Dequitos has long been dead. Meaning, PDEA targeted a dead person. Funny.
A PDEA agent, interviewed over GMA 7 Balitang Bisdak, reasoned out that they got the wrong information on Tetots’ identity because his neighbors refused to cooperate with them when they conducted a surveillance operation. It seems like Tetots’ neighbors were his sympathizers.
That, I say, was a total failure in intelligence gathering. PDEA agents and their informants should have ascertained the real identity of the subject before applying for a search warrant. Good that Dequitos is dead. But what if he was still alive and was mistakenly arrested? That could have been an injustice. Until now, PDEA does not know Tetots’ real name.
I hope that this experience will serve as an eye opener for PDEA agents who are neophytes in intelligence work. They should brush off in their study on intelligence gathering and surveillance techniques so they won’t look dumb in their next operation. Tetots must be laughing at them now.
