(Eagle News) — The Philippine National Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency have jointly drawn up guidelines for the conduct of anti-drug operations to prevent a repeat of the botched buy-bust operation in Quezon City in February that left two policemen, one PDEA agent and one informant dead.
In a statement, the PNP said the guidelines were drawn up in a bilateral meeting on Saturday among top officials of both agencies at the PNP National Headquarters in Camp Crame.
The PNP said Eleazar called for the meeting after members of the Quezon City Police District Station 4 and PDEA agents nearly figured in another incident of miscommunication in a buy-bust operation in Quezon City last Friday.
In this case, though, the PNP said “inter-agency courtesy” prevailed.
During the meeting attended by ranking officials of the two agencies, the PNP said the crafting of a unified operational guidelines and protocols that shall be observed by PNP and PDEA units when conducting anti-illegal drugs operations was discussed.
“These include more rigid coordination procedures that must clearly indicate the specific areas of operation at the Station Level in big cities,” the PNP said.
“Kasama ang PDEA, ito ang tututukan natin ngayon para maiwasan na maulit pa ang anumang pagkukulang sa koordinasyon at komunikasyon.” Eleazar added.
The shootout that killed four people ensued between local police and PDEA agents on Commonwealth Ave. on Feb. 24.
Both the PNP and PDEA had insisted their operations were legitimate.